Valentine's Day

Since my postings this year have been nothing if not erratic, sporadic, and ... nomadic, I give you my Valentine's Day feast! I roasted broccoli and green beans - you simply must roast green beans if you never have! Wonderful. I mashed up some celeriac and potato with cream and butter; and the star of the show was chicken breast with mushroom sauce. The sauce was really good.

When I was a girl - actually this continued into college years - my father gave us Valentine's Day bags full of candy and trinkets. It made my sister and I feel special and loved every February 14th, while simultaneously setting a standard for the future men in our lives. As an adult, after some disappointing Valentine's days with disappointing boyfriends, I think I have learned that I have to cultivate that feeling instead of expecting it to arrive from elsewhere. So I planned a special meal and made a special dessert for my valentine. Then I got on the phone with my sister and made a pact to send each other things every V-day to recapture that childhood sensation that we both miss.

I did not end up making Valentine cookies for the neighborhood, as I thought I would way back on December. Did I really think I would? I was just glowing from all the neighborhood connections I made while I dropped off my sugary Christmas creations.

I would like to celebrate Valentine's Day at the end of April, the way I recall the Catalans doing in Barcelona. It was April, right? I'll look it up. Anyway, it was el Dia de San Jorge (Jordi) and girls got flowers while boys got books. I would rather have a book, actually. So I think that I shall make a San Jordi feast this year - after I look up the date - and work in the garden and read a book.

I'll send my sister some flowers and a book too. Won't that be nice.

Supreme of Chicken, adapted a bit from Jacques Pepin's Fast Food My Way

2T butter

1-2 T olive oil

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/3 cup minced shallots

1 cup diced white mushrooms

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 T ketchup

1/2 cup water

JP says to cook the breasts in the oven at 180 degrees for 10-30 minutes. Mine were raw after 20 minutes, so I cooked them in a skillet with the olive oil instead. Also, his recipe uses four breasts, but I like a lot of mushroom sauce, so I used two and kept the same amount of sauce.

Remove the breasts and add 1T butter and the shallots, cooking over medium-low heat for about one minute. Add the mushrooms and stir, then leave them alone so that the water is released after a few minutes. When the mushrooms are sitting in their own juices, turn the heat to medium-high until most of the juices evaporate and the mushrooms caramelize. Add the vinegar and ketchup and continue to cook for one minute, scraping up the bits. Add the water and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Add the remaining 1T butter, and stir to incorporate. Serve over chicken.

JP serves this with sauteed corn and peas, seasoned with salt and pepper, butter and chives, I liked my celeriac and broccoli.

Multigrain Loaf

You've got to see this bread. It's awesome. This loaf is my version of the "Struan" loaf from the place down the street. Of course, for artisinal bread, you pay an arm and a leg, and I am getting addicted to this bread. So I made my own, darn it.

Making my own also means that I do not have to go into the hated establishment called Grateful Bread. To sum up their sins: (1) Teenagers who give a crap about service work there. Once you are over the age of 30, you care about service and attitude. As in, Please stop talking to your friend/coworker so I can order my coffee and bagel. (2) The place set itself up to showcase all of the social ineptitude of the Seattle masses. As in, Yes, this is the line. Yes, we use words like 'Excuse me.' Yes, you actually can share a table with someone if a person is alone at a four-top. No, you may not sit in the kids' play area without a kid, especially when a woman with a kid comes over to play! No one was taught how to use their words or common sense in this town. (3) You have to bus your own table when there are way too many teenagers on staff? Just say no to bussing your own table. (4) Puff pastry is supposed to puff. You do bread well. Stop there.

I'm done now.

Back to my loaf! Among the standard AP flour and whole wheat flour, it also has semolina flour, brown rice flour, honey, milk, eggs, and seeds on top! And I did that awesome twisty thing as well as brushed on olive oil. The crust was the best ever.

Becoming Filippina

I've got a whopping two dishes under my Filippina belt now. You may recall the many batches of lumpia I made. You may also recall the eclectic Thanksgiving meal we had this year with a curry soup, no potatoes of any kind, and pancit.

Among the several guests present at T-giving, was R's mother, in town from St. Louis to help with the new baby. R's mother is Filippina, so she brought pancit. For the uninitiated, this is a noodle dish with some carrots, cabbage, maybe celery, onions, maybe bean sprouts, and then a ton of different meats, fishballs, tofu, what-have-you. R's mom said that she used soy sauce for the sauce, and she served it with lemon wedges. I picked up a recipe at Uwajimaya that called for a soy sauce, oyster sauce, chicken broth sauce, so I decided to go with that one. There was way too much liquid, though - a whole can of chicken broth? and no cornstarch? Crazy. So I made some adjustments. It was still saucy, but the flavor was good. I made my pancit with no meat at all and lots of cabbage. I served it with miso salmon and bok choy with tofu.

It led to those lunch days where I was excited to eat lunch because I had awesome leftovers that got envious looks from my fellow teachers as they munched on their school-lunch chicken pucks.

Tart Time

I swear I have all these great ideas, witticisms, and transcendent musings while I cook. I can't wait to type them out for my blog. ... And then I sit down days later and they are gone. Like we don't all know that we should write ideas down as they occur to us. I just keep thinking I'll remember. Again and again ... after I forget. Maybe I need a 12-step plan. "Hi. My name is Jen. I keep thinking that I don't need to write things down."

I was on a tart kick. I made erbazzone twice in a week's time. The first time, I served it with a root vegetable soup, and it was good complement. But the second time! I found a magical combination with a lentil and chard (with truffle oil!) dish. Magical. I believe I usually skimp on the chard in my erbazzone, but this time I used two humongous bunches and that was the ticket.

You simply must invest in truffle oil and drizzle it on lentils. It is divine.

My second tart looks like a mess, and sounds odd, but is quite good, I promise.

Fennel and Leek Tart with Poppy Seeds! It's more like a quiche. With the erbazzone the eggs just bind everything together with breadcrumbs and cheese. But with this one, there is a custard and the vegetable are in it.

I used frozen puff pastry for each crust - so quick and lovely. I was going to use frozen pie crust, but the ingredient list is way too long and has way too many unknowns. This crust is butter and flour. Nothing your grandmother wouldn't recognize.