Eating our way through VanVan

      A few weekends ago I boarded a greyhound bus headed north bound to Vancouver, B.C. for a ladies weekend with my cousin and a few of her friends. Beyond the laughing, loving, shopping, drinking, “diva-ing out”, dancing and the incessant yet integral chatter of sex and boys there was wonderful food. There really is no better way to get to know a city than to get to know a local; they are the key to the places that a tourist guide will never show you nor where yelp may lead you to. Now let me just say...I lucked out! These local ladies had amazing suggestions on places that they loved and also ones they were waiting to try themselves. Touring the city without a car and instead a few pairs of heels (and an additional pair of flats in recovery from the heels) gave me a new perspective on VanVan even after visiting there periodically throughout my life. Vancouver really is an easy place to travel around, there are so many transportation options besides just wandering. I also came to realize how bike-friendly of a city it is. There are so many well marked bike lanes and bike stalls. Needless to say I wish I had mine, but thats another trip. 

      So about that food...like I said WONDERFUL is the correct word here. Since I arrived first at the hotel and had a few hours to kill, I decided to head out to nearby Granville Island for lunch. Granville Island isn’t just a place for shopping, theater, recycling, and art; truly it is a foodie fantasy island. Once I found my way to the Public Market my eyes widened to take in all of the fabulous enchanted food stalls before me. I think I went around the whole place three times before I decided on what to eat. There really is everything from crazy tea to house made sausage to head cheese to dragon fruit to garlic whips to Nanaimo bars. Random food craziness abounding. I was feelin’ a cold deli case mishmash so here begins my gastro tourism bit:

I began my drooling at the meticulously designed produce stalls. These cherries were perfectly tart and sweet with such a dark flesh. Mmm. (I know a produce department that might want to take a cue from these guys.) 

  

After I got the "healthy" part over with, I was drawn to the shine of the refrigerated glass deli cases at Zara's. Here I grabbed some huge Dolmades. I cant get enough of these guys, I mean come on...little bursts of lemony-herby-oniony rice wrapped in pickled grapes leaves dripping in olive oil, yes. Also I tried little pickled red peppers stuffed with a creamy blend of fresh ricotta and feta cheese. I think I'd make the switch from jalapeno poppers to these guys in a heartbeat. 

Next to my favorite stop: Dussa's Ham and Cheese. I love this stall because there is so much wonderful meat and cheese to choose from and the vendors are so nice and willing to have you try it all. Last time I visited I tried some squeaky cheese curds and Swiss landjaeger, they were bomb. The landjaeger had a crisp snap of the casing with a salty-super-chewy-cured meaty goodness inside. This time I went for the Gypsy Salame (the one covered with all the pepper flakes in my pic). It had just enough spice and was almost like an aged bologna. This too was bomb. 

Cant stop now. Next I found myself at another well established Deli counter...Duso's Italian Foods. This ones a biggie; they do everything here. You can pick up fresh made pasta or salads for dinner along with a crazy assortment of dried goods, anti pasti and cheeses. I headed for the olives first. Duso's makes this Citrus Mix of greek olives that are to die for. There are threads of lemon zest throughout and the brine is perfectly salty and lemony. Next was the sun-dried tomato feta spread. I'm assuming they just use a blender to mix together a few ingredients but damn its good. It is heavy like fresh poured concrete on a piece of bread and richly creamy and smooth like melted chunky peanut butter. To finish off the sale I grabbed a bit of their marinated artichoke spread. Now I rarely meet an artichoke I don't like but this was exceptional. There wasn't too much olive oil so it wasn't too filling, plus there was an even mix of olives and peppers to not overpower the artichoke bits throughout. Excellent all around. 

So put my foodie finds together and what did I get...? Twas such a lovely late lunch that I ate out on the large patio behind the Market. Its such a great spot because it looks right up at Downtown VanVan. The sun was shining bright and there was even a local band playing near by my picnic bench! 

  

Off the island to more bomb eats after the jump break...Come on, I know you want more.

2011 Bike MS Ride

     In a few weeks I am taking part in the MS Bike ride around the skagit valley. It is a large bike ride that fundraises for helping find a cure for MS as well as helping the people who's lives have been affected by the disease. MS sucks! It is a horrible disease because it affects your brain and your central nervous system, the two main parts of your body that control everything. I know two people that have MS and I am happy to be riding on their behalf. Nothing that I have endured in life so far can compare to what people with MS have to struggle with everyday. So even though this is just a two-day big bike ride, its a place where people like me (a first time rider and first time MS fighting supporter) can do just a little bit to help.

     If you, my dearest blog reader would like to donate to me and in turn people with MS you can find the way here:

  http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/WASBikeEvents?px=10079441&pg=personal&fr_id=16211 

    I want to say too that even 10 bucks would be great, anything at all will help. Also readers, dont feel obligated but if you do decide to donate, your "two lattes" worth of cash will be put towards something amazing...a possible cure for MS.

     Now im off to train, more about that soon.

Powerhouse Cuties

                 Mini Blueberry Pies with Cardamom and Mint

Blueberries are in season, take full advantage people...why you say? Because you know they’re not going to taste as good from your freezer in the fall when you’re craving these little wonders again. But its all good, I freeze berries too though usually it’s because I can’t eat a flat by myself in the time it takes for them to acquire fruit flies. Who doesn’t prefer fresh over frozen? Its just dependent on availability. Frozen berries are still amazing because they are usually cheap and are great in oatmeal, smoothies and pie of course. But if you can, grab those little powerhouse cuties when their at their peak in late summer. No matter when you decide to make this pie, blueberries: fresh or frozen, are going to produce a wonderful pie. 

When I first started seeing those cute blue half pints of berries a couple of weeks ago all I could think about was pie. I’ve always known blueberry pie to be a little on the overly sweet side because well blueberries are really sweet, but I didn’t want a sugar coma with my side of fruit. So how could I make a pie thats not too sweet and heavy? Hows about I downsize and vamp up the flavor. I figured why not mini ones that could be made in a muffin tin. Size, check. Now flavor. Having just come off of my Moroccan sandwich kick I wanted to add a spice to my pies. Cardamom is an old love of mine that I occasionally have after an indian meal, usually covered in a pastel sugar shell. Hmm sugary cardamom? Yes. Now the mint, the mint was a suggestion from my mother, who’s oven I happened to be borrowing for this experiment. “Dani what do you think of mint in there?” Mumsy says, “why?” I ask. Her response; “It just smells sooooo good!” Good enough for me, just a few leaves though. The last issue is that of acid, berry pies usually require a bit of acid and I only had a half a lemon. Problem solver? Can of pineapple juice. Fulfilling the sugar quota with the fruit juice so I could use less actual sugar in my pie. Now were on to something. 

I’m not going to lie to you folks, the crusts you see below are indeed, store bought. I’ll admit that sometimes I take a short-cut when I’m having a busy day or have happened upon a great blueberry sale, but don’t get used to it! Homemade pie crust really is a magical thing once you get it down, but I know that it can be a daunting task. There also seems to be so many different methods and ingredients in which people claim their famed pie crusts to materialize from, naturally its hard to pick the winning recipe. All that I can truly offer to you as an amateur baker is this...temperature is where its at. Everything must be COLD, I mean everything. Keeping not only the ingredients but the tools cold are the secrets behind a successfully flaky crust. The Flakiness is created after an evenly mixed crust’s pockets of fat, get in touch with that high heat. The fat is then melted and steam works to lift the dough up. Huzzah a perfect crust is born and ready to be filled to its fatty little heart’s content...might I suggest blueberries?

Since I cheated with my crusts I feel like i need to make it up to you. Im going to share something amazing, a family recipe. I would like to offer you my late Grandma Randi’s flaky crust recipe. This woman knew how to bake. For real.

                                       For the Crust

• 3 cups flour (plus around a 1/2 cup more for rolling out dough)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 Tbsp COLD unsalted butter, cut into small bits
• 6 Tbsp COLD shortening, cut or spooned (depending on how your shortening was sold, bucket-o-fat or fatty sticks) into small bits
• 8 Tbsp COLD water (I add a few cubes of ice to a bowl of water, then measure out of the bowl)
• 1 Tbsp COLD white vinegar

                                       How

1.) Sift together the flour and the salt in a large mixing bowl. (Don’t have a sifter? A fine mesh colander or a grease splatter guard for frying pans will get the job done too)

2.) Begin to cut in cold fats with the flour/salt. This means simply blending the two mediums together to achieve a crumbly flour with pea size bits of butter throughout. Just drop in your bits of fat into the large flour bowl and begin to mix. (The best tool for this job is a pastry cutter which works quickly because of its wide shape and multiple blades. Don’t have one? A fork or wooden spoon will suffice.) Place in fridge until completing the next step.

3.) Mix together your COLD water and vinegar in a medium-sized bowl.

4.) Working slowly with a Tbsp at a time, add your liquid mixture to your fatty flour. (You want to work slowly so the dough has time to absorb each addition of liquid.) Once your dough has come together and it isn’t sticking to the sides of the bowl, gather into two balls. Then cover with sheets of plastic wrap and place in fridge for an hour or until your ready to use. 

5.) When ready to bake, remove dough from fridge, sprinkle your rolling surface as well as your rolling pin with flour and give a couple good kneads. Then roll out to about a 1/4 inch to a 1/2 inch thickness. Next decide what you’re going to fill it with.

                                       For the Filling

• 4 half pints of blueberries, rinsed and thoroughly drained (about 4 and 1/2 cups roughly)
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 cup pineapple juice
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 3/4 cup raw cane sugar (good ole white works great too)
• 1/2 Tsp ground cardamom
• 5 to 7 fresh mint leaves ripped into little bits (I wouldn’t try to substitute with dried mint here but hey its up to the baker)

                                       How

1.)  Once you have your sheets of dough, look through your collection of drinking glasses until you find one with a large mouth. Use the glass to cut out rounds of crust to fit into a (pre-greased) muffin pan. Know that you are not limited to drinking glasses but rather anything with a wide enough mouth to cut out circles. Repeat this step until you have filled your pan. This should get you a full rack of 12 pies, plus more crust.

2.) In a small bowl, whisk together both lemon and pineapple juices with cornstarch until smooth. Add in sugar along with the cardamom and mint and continue to whisk until combined.

3.) In large bowl using a wooden spoon, mix the blueberries with the pineapple sugar slurry. You want to mix for a few minutes to give the berries a chance to take on the acids and starches. (Don’t worry if you bust up a few berries in the process, a lot of them wont make it out whole anyway)

4.) Now ladle as much blueberry goop as you can fit into each of the crusts. The berries should be higher than the crust level but don’t over fill (or you will just have burned sugar drops to scrape off later).

5.) Bake mini pies first at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Then drop temperature to 350 degrees and continue to cook for about 25 to 30 more minutes or until the edges of your crusts are beginning to brown.

6.) Remove from oven and allow to cool before taking out of the pan. Decide who is worthy of your dark little wonderful pies and eat up! Yields 12 mini pies.

                                       Substitutions

-Plain white granulated sugar could be used in place of raw cane sugar.

-Huckleberries, blackberries, or marionberries could be used in place of blueberries.

Mouthful of spice is nice

Harissa Chicken Sandwiches with Goat Cheese and Patty Pans

       Lets have it Harissa. So i’ve had the itch to use this North African staple for a long time, but had always been unsure where to begin. Harissa’s roots can be traced back to Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. Just like any food, the variety of its spices depend on where the food was produced, for this recipe I am using a Moroccan variety from Mustaphas. It can be found at most grocery stores with an ethnic foods section (look near Indian cuisine). The ingredients used to create this sauce are a fine blend of bell peppers, hot peppers, preserved lemon, tomatoes, garlic and other spices.

       Why not make a sandwich? I figured balance the hot sassy saltiness of the Harissa with an accepting protein; ground chicken. From there I added a creamy cheese; goat and a not too overpowering veg; patty pan squashes. Why patty pan? They are well, beautiful. Also they are the perfect size for sandwiches and stay tender even if you overcook them. Onions, for a tangy crunch and thick crusty bread for the sake of a good sandwich. Bad bread is never a way to start a good sandwich. Prepare yourself for a mouthful.
    

For the Patties

•  1 lb. of ground chicken
•  1/2 bunch of flat leaf Italian parsley, rough-chopped
•  2 Tbsp Harissa 
•  3 garlic cloves, run through a fine grater (I prefer using a microplane, but smashing/pressing/chopping gets the job done too)
•  a healthy dose of cracked black pepper

For the Sandwiches

• 2 to 3 medium-sized patty pan squashes (look for bright yellow skinned ones), sliced into 4 even rounds each
• 2 Tbsp plus another 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
• 2 pinches kosher salt and another healthy dose of cracked pepper
• around 4 Tbsp of goat cheese, figure around 1 Tbsp for each patty
• 1 crusty loaf of bread (I went with a Potato loaf from Grand Central Baking Company), sliced into desired thickness pieces (2 per sandwich), toasted
• 4 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1/2 of a medium-sized red onion, sliced in thin slices
• additional Harissa if you want to up the heat ante on your sandwich

How

1.) Combine the ground chicken, rough-chopped flat leaf parsley, Harissa, pulverized garlic, and pepper together in a medium-sized bowl. (I find that hands work best for ground meats not only because its fun to squish raw meat between your fingers but you know exactly how well you have combined your ingredients.) 

2.) Split the chicken mix into 4 equal parts. Form patties by rolling them slightly into balls, then slightly pressing down on them. (You will probably learn quickly that ground chicken is absolutely more messy than ground beef, so make sure to scrape the excess from your hands to add back to the patties.) Let patties rest in fridge for at least a half an hour to firm up and allow flavors to meld. (Can also be made 1 to 2 days in advance as well as frozen.)

3.) In a large frying pan, heat extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. While heating oil, sprinkle salt and pepper over one side of the sliced patty pans. Place seasoned side down in oil, repeat salt and pepper to other side of patty pans. Cook until the edges brown and squash becomes tender. Figure 10 minutes a side on medium heat. Remove squash from pan.

4.) Return same frying pan to medium-high heat and add another Tbsp of olive oil. After oil is heated, carefully add your patties and cook until firm as well as no visible pink inside patty. Internal temperature of patties should reach 165 degrees. 

5.) With patties still warm, spread about a Tbsp+ of goat cheese on each.

6.) Time to build: Spread mayonnaise on one half of toasted slices, top with cheesed-patty. (Atop cheese is a good place to drizzle extra Harissa if desired.) For the other half of the slices, add one thin level of sliced red onion and top with 3ish slices of squash. 

7.) Press the two halves together and voila! Serve and enjoy. Yields 4.

Substitutions

-Ground turkey could be used in place of chicken.

-Cilantro could be used in place of flat leaf parsley. 

-Yellow squash and zucchini could be used in place patty pan squashes.

-Feta cheese could be used in place of goat cheese.

Be gentle, its my first time

Hello interwebs. Lets do this.

   Like I said above, this is indeed my first time...blogging that is. If you've met me in person you may have realized that I talk a lot. I figure that skill must translate to blogging. It has to, I mean damn going through all the steps in which it takes to format the appearance of a blog itself, has gotta be worth it. This blog is where I want all the random crazy experiences and experiments of my life to end up. My hope is that people who read and discover my random crazy experiences and experiments, will want to take a stab at them also. I believe that sharing our lives with one another is how we as humans stay connected and present. Therefore I want to share mine, and share I shall!
   Now that I've primed you for show and tell time, listen up. Initially going into this project I thought I wanted to it only be about food; because, its my life. Beyond my young memories of cooking with the fam, the cookbook I published in my senior year of high school, and my long time grocery gig...I just never get tired of it. But yes of course there is more out there in the world, I know. Now thanks to this lovely platform I will be able to not only share my foodie life with you but my other loves. Particularly biking and crafting are hobbies that have seemed to stick after all my 25 years. So get ready for a mish-mash of wonderfulness here at my blog, GildedGrease.