Portland Food Adventures: Levant

By mlb, on May 22nd, 2013%

Monday evening we went to the Portland Food Adventure’s dinner at Levant. Have you ever gone to one of these? If not, you really should. There’s at least five courses and the chef (in this case, Scott Snyder), will tell you about the food you’re eating, the restaurant, and their favorite places to eat in Portland. And at the end of the night, you get gift cards to those places! It’s a pretty sweet deal.

Here are my main thoughts on this event at Levant: there was a lot of sun, the food was amazing, there were multiple dessert courses. Win! Unlike the equally delicious Gruner meal, everything Monday night was plated separately and while it maybe took a bit longer that way, the plates were just stunning. The menu is listed below and then my photos follow.

I think if I had to pick a favorite course (and I really liked them all), I’d have to go with the cheese and bread course because, well, it’s cheese. And bread.

Passed Canapes and The Phoenician (cocktail).

First Course: Spot Prawn Crudo, Preserved Lemon & Arak Sorbet, Pickled Chili, Mint Oil.
Wine: Getariako Txakolina, Ameztoi, Hondaribbi Zuri 2012.

Second . . . → Read More: Portland Food Adventures: Levant

FFwD: Creamy Mushrooms and Eggs

By mlb, on May 2nd, 2013%

Well, I think this French Fridays with Dorie is one of my favorites! But, I did change a lot of things. This was mainly due to what I had on hand and what I didn’t want to go buy specifically for this recipe (cream, brioche).

I used some roasted garlic ciabatta that I had in the freezer and instead of cream, I added a little marsala wine to the mushrooms. It just seemed that with butter and egg yolks, the cream really wasn’t necessary. What is it with the French and cream?

I would love to make this sometime for brunch, with two slices of toast and two eggs per person and potatoes on the side. And mimosas.

Oh and as an endorsement that will mean nothing to anyone that doesn’t live in the Portland area, these eggs from Champoeg Farm are the best eggs I have ever used. I can usually find them at the New Seasons on Division (but not other New Seasons for some reason). And I just found out they do farm tours on Sunday. I am so doing that this summer.

Oh and one more note. I was not . . . → Read More: FFwD: Creamy Mushrooms and Eggs

FFwD: Swiss Chard Pancakes (but really Arugula Pancakes)

By mlb, on April 26th, 2013%

I almost didn’t make this French Fridays with Dorie. In fact, I really wasn’t going to make it at all but at 9:00pm on Thursday night I looked to see what the assignment was…it was Swiss Chard Pancakes. I had really wanted to make those. And I didn’t have any chard. Because I was lazy and I absolutely did not want to go to the store, I used what I did have — arugula. Dorie even suggests these pancakes are very good with spinach instead of chard, and is arugula really that far away from spinach? No. Especially not at 9:00pm on a Thursday.

The nice thing is these came together so quickly! I was all done by 9:30-ish. And we had a nice breakfast all ready for the following morning (Friday). I just rewarmed them in a 350 degree F oven (in foil) for about 10 minutes. I served the pancakes with some Greek yogurt and finely diced red onion.

The few changes I made: made a half recipe, added about 1 tsp Dijon mustard to the batter, and sprinkled a tiny bit of Parmesan cheese on each pancake before . . . → Read More: FFwD: Swiss Chard Pancakes (but really Arugula Pancakes)

FFwD: Cod and Spinach Roulades

By mlb, on April 20th, 2013%

This week’s French Fridays with Dorie was a very interesting thing indeed — so interesting, in fact, that I am a day late in getting the post up.

Cod and Spinach Roulades — a spinach and onion filling, wrapped up in fish mousse, steamed and served with tomato sauce and pesto. Kind of like an Italian-French fish tamale?

I don’t see the recipe officially online, so I can’t link to it, but it can be found in the cookbook, Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan.

Notes:
1. I did not use plastic wrap. I know that it is probably fine, but I just don’t like the idea of wrapping plastic around food and then heating it. So…I used parchment paper. And it was moderately successful. It did let some steam/condensation in while steaming, but the fish still held together fine.

2. No cream on hand and didn’t want to go buy some for such a small amount, so I used a mixture of full-fat Greek yogurt and non-fat milk for a substitute. It seemed to work. I also substituted some plain lemon zest for the preserved lemon zest.

3. Plating was not as . . . → Read More: FFwD: Cod and Spinach Roulades

FFwD: Pierre Herme’s Olive Sables

By mlb, on April 5th, 2013%

This week’s French Fridays with Dorie is a strange, little cookie. Grated egg yolk. Kalamata olives. Powdered sugar. Potato starch. So strange and yet so delightful — it’s Pierre Herme’s Olive Sables.

I really was a little skeptical about these and they are certainly not the type off cookie you necessarily want to dip in milk or anything, but we both really liked them. I think they’d work well paired with some cheese and fruit for a light dessert. They are a little salty and a little sweet.

Notes:
1. I actually already had potato starch that I had bought for a different recipe, so that was good.
2. I made a 1/3 of a recipe (used the rest of the hard boiled egg chopped up on a big dinner salad), because it did sound a little strange (and there are only two of us).
3. Lemon zest! I added a little to the dough. I was originally thinking orange zest (which I still think would be really great here), but I only had lemons.

Here’s a link to everyone’s French Fridays posts and my photos below.

Pierre <span style= . . . → Read More: FFwD: Pierre Herme’s Olive Sables

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