Seattle Bon Vivant

The Paper Chef #7: Buttermilk Banana Bread

Banana Bread is one of my favorite things to bake mainly because bananas are one of my favorite tropical fruits. Its aromatic, moist and a perfect breakfast treat.

And just in time for this month's edition of Owen's The Paper Chef I was aiming to improve on an already pretty tasty recipe with the addition of three of the event's required elements: dates, honey and buttermilk (eggs was the 4th).

After tweaking with the proportions and ingredients of my basic recipe for Banana Nut Bread this was the outcome: a new and improved banana bread.

This one is very fragrant, ultra moist (thanks to the buttermilk), sweet but not cloying (honey and ripe bananas did the trick I think), lower in fat--funny enough, because that was not my aim-- than the usual loaf while retaining the classic banana bread character, color, beautiful texture and crumb.

I baked it right after coming home from work, just before dinner with about an hour for cooling the bread and taking a few snapshots. This was not supposed to be dessert tonight but rather breakfast tomorrow morning, however the wonderful scent coming out of the oven proved to be too much of a temptation.

To top it off it split down the center as if coached to do so--with a knife, by hand, about 20 minutes into the baking process, à la Pierre Hermé--only I did not. Magic! I quickly devoured one of the two small mini breads, still warm out of oven...for research purposes, of course.

Tomorrow should be even better...

The Paper Chef #6: Monday Morning Breakfast

It has been a couple very fun but hectic weeks around here. After a short holiday to Cannon Beach the next few days are only going to get wackier what with a full work week ahead, three concerts on three consecutive nights, relatives arriving Thursday from Los Angeles for an extended weekend in the city and a swanky party on Friday.

I had thought about making a sort of Trifle with layers of homebaked Friand, Ricotta, cut up California strawberries--definitely not my favorites but the only ones available now until the lovely Skagit strawberries arrive at the market-- and a topping of grated white chocolate (a substance I normally eschew). In the end I opted for an even simpler option: no baking and hardly any assembling at all.

With the exception of the white chocolate and strawberries, I purchased the Friand and Amandine (layers of just baked puf pastry filled with alond cream and topped with sliced roasted almonds) when I went to Pike Place early this morning to shop for breakfast.

That being said, I present to you a deconstructed Paper Chef entry...just for kicks.

• Fresh strawberries garnished with grated white chocolate (South African Cadbury's Dream)
• The freshest Amandine, purchased early this morning at Le Panier at the Market.
• Almondy and moist Friand, also from Le Panier.
• In lieu of Ricotta--which I normally have no use for outside of pizza or lasagna--I opted for a serving of the very tangy, creamy and thick homemade yogurt I whipped up last Thursday.

The only element missing is a rather largish cup of café au lait that washed down the almondy sweetness of this very lovely breakfast.

The Paper Chef #5: eleven days late

A trip to Paris prevented me from participating in #4 and too much work had me running against the clock and a few days too late for this month's (#5). Still I've been meaning to do this before but it kept slipping my mind.

So, here it is, a quick photo taken last Friday of the delectable and highly addictive amuse bouche appetizer thing that is my Paper Chef #5 entry that wasn't.

A moment of inspiration that came to me at the sight of the tender, crisp and elegant Belgian Endive found while shopping at Frank's Quality Produce at the market, Fresh Chèvre (with Basil) from Idaho and a fabulous Prosciutto, both purchased last week at DeLaurenti. To finish the bite, a drizzle of a Fig Molasses and Vino de Jerez reduction.

The only Paper Chef required element missing were my darling Garlic Spears that we were swimming in (putting them in everything we made) last spring. This time around, Puget Sound area farmers should be harvesting them next month so there are not yet available at the market.

The produce manager from Metropolitan Market in Queen Anne told me they could be ordered from California but I'd rather wait for our own to arrive at the Pike Place.

Putting this bite together was easy peasy. The endive is the perfect vehicle for all sorts of fillings. This time around, the cheese went in first, moist, creamy and unbelievably good, generously packed in too. Then came the Prosciutto--sliced paper thin-- and last the drizzle of the reduction.

The mélange of the different contrasting tastes, salty and green, creamy and savory, watery crunch and semi sweet finish was just lovely. These were devoured as they were assembled and they looked and tasted very sophisticated.

I'll give this effort another go as soon as the green, crunchy and delicious Spears are in and report back at that time.

The Paper Chef #3: Crêpes à la Cannele et à la Fleur d'Oranger

Cinnamon, oranges, wheat flour and crème fraîche were the ingredients chosen for this month's The Paper Chef. I was looking for a simple way to combine all these in the simplest way possible. Therefore, the idea for a dessert crèpe came to mind. Uncomplicated, dainty and sweet.

For the crêpes, I did my very own twist on a recipe from Epicurious. I added a teaspoon of cinnamon to the batter and substituted the brandy for a beautiful Austrian (80% proof) rum I had around, the same used to macerate my spicy currants. You may use brandy, cognac or a lighter dark rum.

The inside of the still warm crêpe was coated with a spoonful of a lovely Neuhaus Orange-Miel Jam I managed to deplete the stock of when the Pacific Place shop had them on sale.

Right before serving the crêpes were topped with Bellwether Farms Crème Fraîche that had been lightly sweetened with *Côté Garrigue Sirop à la Fleur d'Oranger and fresh orange zest

These were exquisite. The pairing of the honeyed orange preserve and cinnamon was ever so delicate and the addition of crème fraîche rendered these utterly rich and satisfying.

The Paper Chef No. 2: Roasted Meyer Lemon Chicken with Savoy Cabbage, Chanterelles and Yukon Golds

Sam of Becks & Posh and Carolyn of 18thC Cuisine and yours truly had so much fun last month creating and cooking away for the premiere edition of The Paper Chef that we could not that wait for the creator of this event, Owen of Tomatilla, to announce the ingredients for the second edition.

As soon as the announcement was made that the four ingredients to be used were to be Chicken, Meyer Lemons, Savoy Cabbage and Potatoes a bell rang in my head. Roasted Chicken!

It is one of my favorite things to eat and to cook and I was sure all these ingredients would work perfectly together. I had the Meyer lemons in my refrigerator, I picked up beautiful Yukon Golds and local and amazingly fresh Chanterelle mushrooms (from Olympia, the last of the season) while on shopping expedition to Pike Place Market yesterday. Earlier today, I sent Mr. C to Larry's in Queen Anne to get my a nice free range chicken and a beautiful head of Savoy Cabbage.

The plan was to put together a roasted chicken dish--nothing elaborate or particularly award winning-- a comforting meal with plenty of different textures, colors and nuances of flavor. Just an original one pot dish for Sunday supper that would not only qualify for this fun experiment but also serve as early dinner and Monday's lunch.  And since Mr. C had spent the week in Fairbanks, Alaska on business, I was sure he would appreciate a home cooked meal on this snowy Seattle day to welcome him home.

To assure that the chicken would be not only succulent but also very moist, I marinated it ahead of time with the Meyer lemon juice--no zest this time--, garlic, fresh thyme, red pepper flakes and Maldon salt. I also used the Savoy cabbage leaves, stacked two by two as cups with couple mushrooms and onion slices onion to serve as a bed on  which to place the chicken skin side down.

By doing this the chicken was infused even more with the chanterelle and onion flavors and the juices sitting at the bottom of the cup helped keep the meat moist and tender. This was particularly useful for the white meat portions, the breast/wing sections, which even though they are not my favorite part of the chicken they happen to be Mr.C's meat of choice.

I'm happy to report this ended up being quite the dish! The Meyer lemons, my very good friends, yet again were the stars in this effort and did not disappoint. They mellowed out without losing their floral notes. Every bite of these caramelized yellow marvels was delightfully refreshing and scented, infusing the sauce with a lovely citrus tang but none of the average lemon's pithy bitterness.

The Savoy cups got tender and felt apart in parts while the curly edges crisped and became golden, creating yet another nuance of flavor and added depth to the dish. The potatoes cooked and became creamy yet firm while the mushrooms soaked up all the juices at the bottom of the pan.

The sauce had a lovely color and the skin of the chicken had enough time to get crispy and golden without becoming mahogany brown. And because of the addition of the Bartolini White Truffle Infused Olive Oil the whole thing became scented with the loveliest of aromas, one of my favorites in the food world, a barely there hint of white truffle that was just the right accent to this simple but incredibly satisfying meal.

Thank you once again Owen, once again, for promoting and enabling culinary creativity and for facilitating this truly fun exercise that I hope more and more bloggers participate in.

The Paper Chef: Curried Chicken And Squash Soup With Meyer Lemon & Ginger

Owen from Tomatilla recently came out with an online blog cooking event that adds yet another exercise to a bevy of excuses for getting together--albeit virtually--and cook a little more.

He named his brain child Paper Chef. The concept is very similar to that of the famous--an infamous-- Food TV's Iron Chef series, only in this case, there are four ingredients instead of one.

The gist of it was as follows: Owen announced a list of four ingredients that must be used, to make a dish and then write about it on the following Monday by noon PST. "An impartial guest judge will pick the best sounding recipe to them and the winner will be awarded" the "Paper Chef" title for a month.

For the premiere installment the ingredients to cook were:

1)Cilantro
2)Ginger
3)Almonds
4)Winter Squash

Though I had read about this event I totally forgot about it until earlier today when, through Food Porn Watch I saw that Owen had updated his site, with, what else, but his own entry to Paper Chef.

Although I love cooking and blogging and all these food events are by definition very exciting, the thought of an impromptu dish being submitted for a "contest" did not really appeal to me. However, in my head, I could already hear Chairman Kaga screaming Allez cuisine!

There was the added bit of finding time to create, cook, plate, take a picture of the soup while there was still a nice & natural light out and post the entry before noon Monday. We were invited for dinner at a friend's restaurant tomorrow and had planned  to go to Buenos Aires Grill tonight for supper.

Ack! What to do? It had to be today for me if I wanted to support this effort. Well, we could always go to the restaurant any other day, right? Besides, this sounded like too much fun--not to mention a time sensitive challenge-- for me to skip.

Since I happen to love squash, ginger and cilantro and it is a little grey in Seattle today I thought about using this opportunity to perhaps create a new dish altogether. Perhaps use the opportunity to come up with something completely original, in this case, a soup recipe that could be had for both a late lunch and dinner today and any other day. With most of the ingredients around it was a matter of checking the pantry for the almonds and broth.

The idea was to come up with a dish in which to utilize not only all the required ingredients in a palatable manner but also to incorporate one of my favorite citrus fruits, one I have been waiting all year to have again around the kitchen--and yet another very seasonal ingredient for the soup-- Meyer Lemons.

I had a few Meyers in the refrigerator that had been calling my name this week, begging to be used up in a creative way. My squeezing them in teas and marinades had become quite tiresome for the poor babies. How could I ignore their plea when they are so cute, soft-skinned, fragrant and with that beautiful orangy-yellow hue?

Ginger and lemon called out for yet another one of their friends, Mr. Garlic. Garlic, it seems, tends to hang out a lot with Ms. Onion (a Roscoff) around these parts. As there were no compromises to be made or time for negotiations, they all jumped happily into the pot to keep squash, ginger and cilantro company.

For my soup I chose a variety of Winter Squash called Delicato (also known as sweet potato squash) which has a long cylindrical shape and it is a lovely pale yellow color with orange and green stripes. Delicatos have a subtle caramel undertone that added a little depth to the dish. It also works very well for dishes where you want the squash to be tender but not to dissolve or become too soft or puréed.

And the rest, mesdames et monsieurs, as they say, is history. The soup turned out a lovely yellow color which is, at least in my book,  the perfect shade for brightening up any day but especially a cool Sunday afternoon. The Meyer Lemon lent the dish a fantastic citrusy burst--not bitter or harsh-- and subtle tartness that no regular lemon can achieve, while the cilantro and sliced almond garnish added a nice flavor spark and crunchy texture contrast.

The trial by fire of this experiment was to be Mr. C's palate. He loves all the ingredients on this soup except for the Curry powder and Turmeric. Not only is he not the world's biggest  fan of Indian food--he does not know what he is missing out-- but bright colored foods scare him a bit.

After an initial apprehension, followed by much encouragement on my part--short of force feeding him a ladle of the stuff--he not only declared the soup a success but also got himself a bigger bowl and went for seconds. The soup is a snap to make, the ingredients easy to find and it was produced for less than $20 USD. As far as he and I are concerned, this soup won our contest already. ;-D