Zucchini and yellow squash fritters

Aye ya. Two terrible dishes in the same day. I must not be in sync with the universe today. I'm told that if yellow squash isn't ripe (as if anyone can tell just by looking at it), the squash can be bitter. I don't think this would have tasted any better if I made it into something else. Why would it be for sale at a produce stand if it weren't ripe? Maybe farmers can't even tell when the yellow squash is ripe during harvest season...

This is a typical fritter recipe. You have a shredded ingredient, say a potato, zucchini, carrots, or squash, or any combination of ingredients, say clams or crab meat, add it to a flour-based batter and fry it up.

The base of the fritter usually involves some mixture of water, eggs, flour, and sometimes baking powder. The baking powder supposedly makes the fritter more crunchy; though, it didn't do much for this batch. If I were to do this recipe again, I'd definitely omit the yellow squash. Ugh.

Ingredients

2 small yellow squash, grated

1 medium zucchini, grated

1 carrot, grated

1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg, lightly beaten + 1 tbsp water

salt, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

olive oil, for frying

Directions

1. Grate vegetables and stir in 1/4 tsp of salt. Let this sit for 10 minutes, then with cheesecloth or with your hands, squeeze out and discard the excess liquid from the vegetables.

2. Lightly beat an egg, salt, and freshly ground black pepper; stir this into the vegetables.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder.

3. While stirring, sprinkle in the flour to the egg/vegetable mixture. It should be slightly runny, like a batter.

4. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls into the hot oil. Fry on each side until lightly golden brown. Remove fritter from heat and repeat with the remaining batter.

These would probably taste good with a light sauce or sour cream.

Goat cheese and zucchini omelette

Using a flavored goat cheese (Primo Taglio, a Lucerne brand), in this instance garlic & herb, for an omelette proved to be too strong tasting and overpowered all the herbs in the eggs. I don't think it would have mattered if I used fresh herbs instead of dried.  The original recipe from Cooking Light magazine calls for red bell pepper and fresh herbs.

Ingredients

4 eggs
3 oz goat cheese, crumbled
1/2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp fresh chives, chopped (optional, as garnish)
sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
olive oil, for frying

Directions

1. In a bowl, beat eggs, salt and black pepper together.

2. In a small bowl, combine tarragon, parsley and goat cheese.

3. In a non-stick skillet, heat 1 tsp of olive oil and fry zucchini until lightly browned. Remove from heat and set aside.

4. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in the skillet and add half the egg mixture. As the egg cooks, evenly spread on top half the cheese and half the zucchini. Using a spatula, loosen the edges of the omelette before attempting fold it into thirds. Carefully flip the omelette over in the skillet and let it cook for 2-3 minutes more. Remove the omelette to a plate and repeat with the remaining ingredients.

5. Sprinkle fresh chives on top before serving.

Ratatouille Tart

I made a double cornmeal crust for this and even after baking it twice, once for the crust and again with the assembled tart, the crust did not hold up too well to slicing. Some potluck guests had suggested that instead of it being the crust, to use the cornmeal as a topping on top of the crust. That would be an interesting notion. I'll have to think about how to make it so that it cuts well and is crust-less. It is entirely doable if the bottom layer is comprised of sturdier slices of vegetables like more overlapping layers of eggplant and zucchini. This tart only had a single layer of roasted eggplant, zucchini and tomato slices. Without the 1/4" cornmeal crust it can easily accommodate more layers of vegetables. The inclusion of the shredded Gruyere and Swiss cheese into one of the cheese layers was certainly worth repeating. The original Food Network recipe only called for shredded mozzarella cheese, and three ounces was not enough for a 10" tart. I don't think it would be enough had I used a 9" tart pan.

For roasting:

1 green zucchini
1 Japanese eggplant (the long, thin one)
3 medium tomatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Slice vegetables into 1/8" slices and lay out in a single layer on a 9" x 13" glass baking dish (for easier cleaning) or onto a Silpat-lined baking tray. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and bake vegetables for 12 minutes. The vegetables should be soft and doesn't have to be cooked all the way through. Take roasted vegetables out and set aside to cool until ready to fill the tart pan.

The cornmeal crust (optional):

One batch will supposedly fill a 9" tart pan with a removable bottom. But, that is not the size I had on hand. I made a double batch and packed it all into the 10" tart pan, which turned out to be way too much crust.

2/3 c. finely ground white cornmeal
1/3 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp dried rosemary
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt

In a food prep, pulse together dry ingredients, then add butter and pulse until coarse crumbs form. Add in the olive oil and pulse until well combined.

If you managed to roast the vegetables first, turn the heat down to 350 degrees F. After packing the crust into the tart pan with a 1/4" edge around the base of the tart. Place a sheet of aluminum foil between the top of the tart and the pie weights. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil and pie weights and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until the crust no longer looks shiny.

Kitchen note: this crust did not hold together and tasted very dry. The combination of olive oil and butter did not do much as a binder. Perhaps just a water, butter, flour crust would have sufficed.

Putting it all together:

The remaining ingredients for this recipe involves shredded cheese, sliced basil leaves, and grated Parmesan cheese (or some comparable tasting hard cheese).

3 oz - 5 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
4 oz Gruyere and Swiss blend cheese, shredded
5 medium fresh basil leaves, sliced
1/4 c. grated Parmigiano-regianno cheese

Bottom layer:  roasted eggplant slices and mozzarella cheese. When I did this, I placed the slices in a circular manner with the slices slightly overlapping each other.

Middle layer: zucchini slices and Gruyere and Swiss cheese

Top layer: tomato slices, fresh basil leaf slices, and the remainder of the mozzarella cheese. Generously scatter the grated hard cheese on top of the tart.

Bake tart for 30 minutes, or until all the cheese has melted. It will smell a lot like a pizza because it is made up of similar ingredients.

Remove tart from oven and let cool before serving.

Chicken Soft Tacos

I wrote in an earlier post that freshly made bacon grease can be turned into fresh flour tortillas. I prepared a nice salsa to go with it and some leftover chicken. Some fast food eateries stuff their soft tacos with lots of shredded lettuce, which is mostly a filler to make it look larger. I'd rather eat the lettuce as a salad.

Salsa for Tacos

1 ripe avocado, peeled and diced
1 1/4 c. roma tomatoes, diced
5 green onions, white part only, thinly sliced
1/2 fresh jalapeno, seeded and diced
1/4 c. chopped cilantro leaves, stems removed
juice of one lime
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients into a food storage container and shake until the lime juice evenly coats the avocado; the lime juice will keep the avocado from turning brown.

For this batch of soft tacos, I made two batches of soft tacos.. one made with unbleached all-purpose flour and the second with whole wheat flour. The whole wheat flour tortillas tasted awful. Maybe it's because whole wheat is such a heavier-tasting flour. Preferentially, I enjoy the lighter texture and flavor of a white flour tortilla than say whole wheat or corn tortillas.

Another note on making the tortillas. Once you remove it from the cast iron pan and put it on a paper towel-lined plate, cover the tortillas with a kitchen towel moistened with water. This will keep the tortillas pliable until they are ready to eat. If you plan to eat them later, seal them in a ziplock bag and refrigerate.

Reviews: Downtown Bellevue Eats

Part of exploring a new metro area is eating your way through the lunch week. I've been trying to experience a different eatery for the days that I eat out either by myself or with co-workers. I thought I should keep some notes about finding new places to eat. The alternative is to brown bag it. While the weather is still nice I think I should try something new.

Lemon Pound Cake

...with six egg yolks. Yeah, so we had all these leftover egg yolks from that brown butter hazelnut cake (which, according to Smitten Kitchen's recipe takes six egg whites if using large eggs) from two weeks ago that I thought I'd toss into this recipe. This cake recipe ordinarily takes just four egg yolks, but I wasn't about to do fancy math with the dry ingredients to accommodate two more egg yolks. I'll soon find out in about an hour if the cake came out okay.

Ingredients

1 c. organic granulated sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 1/4 c. unbleached all purpose flour, minus 2 tbsp flour
6 egg yolks
1/3 c. half and half (or whole milk)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon extract
zest of one lemon
pinch of kosher salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. In a stand mixer: cream butter and sugar together. Add vanilla and lemon extracts. Add lemon juice and lemon zest. Add egg yolks. Beat until pale and fluffy.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

3. While the stand mixer is running (on low), alternate while adding half-and-half and flour. Beat until well combined.

4. Butter a loaf pan and fill with cake mixture. Bake for 50 minutes or until edges of the cake are lightly browned and start to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Let cool on a rack before removing from loaf pan.

Wild Game Meat in the greater Seattle area

King County: Butcher Shops, Meat Markets, and Fresh Seafood

After three years of living in the southwest region of Washington state, I relocated (for work) to the Seattle area. Not surprisingly, since this is a very urban metropolitan area with scattered farms on the fringes of suburbia, there are even fewer choices for fresh game meat and nearby butcher shops that can offer up meats and cuts that you just can't get at a Whole Foods or other specialty retail grocery store with a meat counter.

Here's what I have found so far:

Bill the Butcher
7990 Leary Way Northeast, Redmond, WA 98072?
(425) 636-8901
http://www.billthebutcher.com
Meat standards: Organic (No herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones or steroids; Fed with organic grass or grain that is not genetically modified), Natural (No herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones or steroids; No genetically modified feed. Humanely raised and harvested animals; Pastured and as local as possible.)
Meats: organic and natural beef, free range local poultry, natural pork, wild game (not specified on website), sausages
Other products: raw milk
Hours: Tu-Sun noon-7pm, closed Mondays
Other locations: Woodinville, Seattle (NE 45th St, E Madison St, and 34th Ave W)
 
Bob’s Quality Meats
4861 Rainier Avenue South  Seattle, WA 98118
(206) 725-1221
http://www.bobsqualitymeats.com
Meat: beef, buffalo, lamb, poultry (chicken, turkey, game hen, eggs), oxtails
Whole animals: lamb, goat, rabbit, chicken, smoked turkey
Game meats: duck, venison (ground),
Dairy/Cheese: butter; American cheese, Swiss cheese, Boudin
Other specialty: pancetta, hard salami, beef jerky, oxtails, pork blood
Hours: M-F 9am-7pm, Sa 9am-5pm, closed Sundays

Don and Joe’s Meats (at Pikes Market)
85 Pike Street  Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 682-7670
http://www.donandjoesmeats.com
Meats: sausages, beef, lamb, veal, offals
Seasonal meats: turkeys (fresh & smoked), duck, geese, pheasant, quail, rabbit
Hours: M-Sa 9am-6pm, closed Sundays

Fresh Sea Food
Pure Food Fish Market / Pike Place Market
Seattle, WA 98108
Local (Seattle Area): 206-622-5765
http://www.freshseafood.com
Seafood: salmon (fresh & smoked), halibut, crab, shrimp, lobster, squid, shellfish (clams, mussels, scallops), caviar, Columbia River white sturgeon, whole rainbow trout, whole golden trout, sushi grade ahi tuna
Steaks: Hawaiian mahi mahi, Hawaiian ahi tuna
Fillets: monk fish, ling cod, dover sole, pertrole sole, catfish, Alaskan black cod, Alaska true cod, Pacific red snapper, Chilean sea bass
Hours: Mo-Su 7am-9pm

University Seafood and Poultry (u-district)
1317 Northeast 47th Street  Seattle, WA 98105
(206) 632-3900
http://www.universityseafoodandpoultry.com
Meats: poultry & eggs (duck, duckling, pheasant, quail, geese, game hens, turkeys)
Seafood (fresh): king salmon, steamer clams, live Maine lobsters, Pacific oysters, mussels, perch, halibut, sockeye salmon, etc)
Hours: M-F 930am-530pm, Sa 930am-5pm, closed Sundays
Misc: Free parking next to the 76 gas station

World Famous Pike Place Fish Market
86 Pike Street  Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 682-7181
http://www.pikeplacefish.com
Seafood: salmon (fresh & smoked), white fish, Dungeness crab, live shellfish (Penn Cove clams, Manilla clams, Pacific oysters, mussels, Kumamoto oysters), fresh (but not alive) shellfish (Alaskan king crab, snow crab legs, shrimp, Alaskan spot prawns, sea scallops, bay scallops, smoked mussels)
Hours: mo-Sun 6am-6pm

Yeast-free, gluten-free pizza crust

Today is game night and for one of the appetizers we are making pizzas with Trader Joe's pizza dough. Two of the expected guests don't eat carbs and the third has been leaning towards a gluten-free diet, so this attempt at pizza blasphemy is for her.

I originally poured the batter into two 8" diameter springform pans but the liquid leaked out and onto the baking sheet that I had below it. I baked the remainder of the batter in a greased 8" x 8" pan. That came out much better. Although, square just seems square for a pizza crust. For the liquid part, rice or almond milk can be used entirely. I just use half rice milk and half-and-half for flavor. You can certainly make this dairy-free too.

Ingredients

2 eggs
1/2 c. organic rice flour
1/2 c. cornstarch
1/3 c. rice or almond milk
1/3 c. half and half
1 tsp each, dried basil, dried oregano, dried thyme
1 tsp kosher salt
olive oil or unsalted butter, to grease the baking pans

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

1. Whisk dry ingredients together: rice flour, cornstarch, salt, garlic powder, and herbs.

2. Whisk wet ingredients together: eggs, rice milk, half and half.

3. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, gently whisking to combine until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.

4. Pour into prepared pans to about 1/4" depth. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the top no longer looks runny. It will have the appearance of a dense crepe.

Chilled Ginger-Watermelon Soup

I made palate cleanser appetizer for a House of Hsi dinner party (think formal meal prep and casual atmosphere). It relies entirely on the sweetness of the watermelon and the subtle heat of the ginger as the only ingredient flavorings. The peppermint mint leaves were just for garnish. There is no added sugar; mostly because watermelons are very sweet at the end of summer. Because the size of the bowls that were used held less than a cup of soup each, the portion sizing of this recipe is an estimate. If you have a water pitcher that can fit (covered) in the refrigerator, it'll make pouring this appetizer really easy.

Serves: 12+

Ingredients

One medium seedless watermelon, cut into chunks
36 watermelon balls, chilled
One 1" x 1/2" peeled fresh ginger root, grated with a ginger grater
2 fresh mint leaves per bowl (optional, as garnish)

Directions

1. In a large 5-quart bowl, use an immersion blender to blend the watermelon chunks, grated ginger, and ginger juice together. Transfer to a serving pitcher and chill for at least an hour before serving.

2. Using a melon baller, scoop out rounded balls of watermelon. Cover and chill in the refrigerator before serving.

3. To plate this, place three watermelon balls inside the soup bowl. Fill the bowl until the balls are barely covered by the soup. Garnish with mint leaves and serve.

Fresh summer fruits with goat cheese

I had a variety of fresh summer fruits to work with for this appetizer. On this dish are the following: goat cheese (plated first), 1 black fig halved, 1/4 green fig, slice of white nectarine, slice of yellow peach, strawberry slice, blueberries, and clover honey (drizzled last). The plating was totally random, but consistent across all 12 servings.

Fresh summer fruits with goat cheese and clover honey

Apple Compote

This was made as part of a larger dessert, brown butter hazelnut cake (Smitten Kitchen recipe); which I had the opportunity of tasting at Trellis. This looks a lot like the process for apple sauce, except with a lot more water.

Ingredients

2 cups water
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split in half
1 tablespoon brandy
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch salt
6 Gravenstein apples, peeled, cored, and diced

Directions

In a large saucepan, combine water, sugar, vanilla bean, brandy, spices and salt. Bring to a boil, about 5 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved. Add the apples and simmer for 20 minutes until the apples are tender. It's okay if the apples start to disintegrate upon cooling. Let mixture cool to room temperature and remove vanilla bean halves. The mixture will thicken slightly as it cools.

Makes 12 half-cup servings.