February is a great time to get out your crockpot.
Our Human Resources manager, Devony Fitch, ran a contest for crockpot recipes recently in our employee newsletter. Here are the recipes of the three winners:
Crockpot Chicken Stock, by Carol Baush of Rub with Love products:
I like to use the crockpot to make chicken stock. I’ll take the chicken carcass, whatever vegetable trimmings I’ve saved, plus an onion and some fresh herbs. After adding enough water to fill the crock pot, I set it on low and let it cook overnight or up to 12 hours. It’s nice to be able to leave it and not have to worry about something on the stove. I’ve also done this for vegetable stock. It’s so easy! Read the rest of this entry »
February 23rd, 2009 | No Comments »
My friend took me to the Marais the other day and swore up and down that it was home to the best falafel in the world at a place called L’as du Falafel. And it was, in fact, the most delicious falafel I’ve ever tasted. The little fried falafel balls were walnut sized and perfectly round and crisp and cradled in my pita with a mix of thinly julienned cucumber and red cabbage. However, what really took it up a notch was the grilled rounds of eggplant that were tucked into the pita. The eggplant was smooth with a charred flavor and not at all greasy. At each table you were given two sauce options. Both were delicious, intense in color, and spicy, but the green one had a fresher, clean flavor that was slightly more mild, while the red version was a bit more intense with a garlicky flavor. It was the most delightful combination of texture and taste.
February 23rd, 2009 | No Comments »
The London Times chooses the world’s best food blogs. This is a great list which includes many familiar favorites, but also amazing new ones to explore like Cafe Fernando which is a food blog from Istanbul!!! The internet does indeed make our world a global village.
February 19th, 2009 | No Comments »
If you missed Tom and Thierry’s KIRO radio show’s 5th Anniversary Celebration at Palace Ballroom and want to see a bit of the “Tin Gladiator” cooking competition where KIRO personalities were paired with Tom Douglas Restaurant chefs, then check out this video.
February 18th, 2009 | No Comments »
The list of semi-finalists for the prestigious James Beard Awards is out, and Tom has been nominated for Best Restaurateur. Mark Fuller, who was our Dahlia Chef for years and is now chef/owner of Spring Hill, was nominated for Best Chef Northwest. Another Tom Douglas Restaurants alumnus, Chris Ainsworth, who used to be a line cook at the Dahlia, was also nominated for Best Chef Northwest as Chef of Saffron Mediterranean Kitchen in Walla Walla. Several other of our Seattle chef and restaurant friends made the list, so check it out here. Remember, these are semi-finalists. The finalists will be announced March 23, and the winners will be chosen at the James Beard Awards in New York on May 4th. Congrats to everyone on the semi-finalist list!
February 17th, 2009 | No Comments »
The photos upper left and right are from Johnny’s Po Boys. This place was tiny, but packed. The menu was also packed with options and nothing was over $11. We tasted a muffuletta, oyster po’ boys “dressed,”and a ham and biscuit- which was the most delightful, light, flaky biscuit you’ll ever hope to eat. The clientele were from every strata of society, everyone sharing good food.
The photo at center is from Cafe Du Monde. This outdoor cafe is synonymous with breakfast in New Orleans. The menu has only beignets (which were awesome!), coffee, hot chocolate, orange juice, and milk. Everything is less than $3. There was enough powdered sugar on the tables and chairs to justify the ream of napkins on each little bistro table. The cafe is across from Jackson Square where people read fortunes and sell paintings in front of the St Louis Cathedral.
The photo bottom left is of the baked oysters 3 ways at Bourbon House. New Orleans oysters are delicious,fresh, and meaty– firm and flavorful enough to be best when cooked rather than raw. Some of the oysters were so large, one would have a heck of a time doing them shooter style. The restaurant had huge windows and high ceilings, and the service was fast and friendly. We sipped Alligator beers and Rose Cremant sparklers at the bar while the gentleman shucking oysters must have shucked about 200.
(Editor’s note: if you’re planning on going to New Orleans Jazz Fest this Spring, it’s not too early to be making reservations. Here’s the link.)
February 17th, 2009 | No Comments »
We drove down to Portland for the weekend with concert tickets to the Portland Jazz Fest and checked into a small but comfy and stylish room at the Hotel deLuxe (a beautiful 8 million dollar renovation of the old Hotel Mallory). Like many who work in the restaurant industry, I rarely dine out for Valentines Day, so my husband, Frank, and I thoroughly enjoyed stepping out for a special menu at one of our favorite Portland restaurants, Bluehour. (We also got the chance to say hi to Tom Douglas Restaurants alumnus and ex-Palace dining room manager, Paul- aka Pablo- Costello, who moved to Portland and is now a waiter at Bluehour). Frank and I went all out and ordered the wine flights matched to the meal. Our favorite match was the Chateau Mongravey, Margaux, 2003, with the braised beef short ribs, and we also enjoyed tasting both a sherry (Pedro Ximenez, 1979, Spain) and a port (Ruby Port, Quinta do Infantado, Portugal) with the luscious bittersweet chocolate and amarena cherry torte. Bluehour, located in one of those warehouse buildings in the Pearl District, is a truly polished operation with professional service and delicious food. (If you’re dining at Bluehour, and it’s not a special day with a special menu, be sure to order the cheese service from the delightful and always enthusiastic Amanda!)
Sunday morning, we went for brunch at Autentica, in Northeast Portland. The chef, Oswaldo Bibiano, hails from the Guerrero region of Mexico which borders the Pacific, so the cuisine features fish and seafood, Read the rest of this entry »
February 16th, 2009 | No Comments »
I’m just about to get ready to make dinner for my Frenchy friends, but before I do, I thought I would send two pictures from the weekend. The first (photo left) is the most delicious duck confit with thinly sliced potatoes fried in the duck fat and a green salad. It’s amazing the things you can get in a can over here at a relatively cheap cost. (Yes, the confit came in a delicious, delicious can! Amazing!) The other photo (right) is of these magnificent pastries from a small place called Arnaud Delmontel. The pastry farthest away is soft caramel with meringue in the center, the one after that is a dense dark chocolate cake with candied orange, the next is a mousse with what the French call “red fruites,” and the one closest to the camera is a mille feuille with chocolate on top and chestnut filling. YUM!!!!!
February 16th, 2009 | No Comments »
I have been working in professional kitchens for ten years now. I went to a fancy culinary school. I work at one of the best restaurants in the northwest. And honestly….I am a junk food junkie.
I feel like many people I meet, upon hearing that I am a cook, say things like, “oh you must eat sooo well!” Sometimes I tell them that I do eat well and I cook at home all the time. Sometimes I am honest and tell them that my idea of dinner is pretzels and bourbon. There may be some shame in the fact that I spent all kinds of money on school and have made a career out of flavors and cuisine, and when all is said and done, my palate seems to think that tater tots are one of the most incredible things in the world. Maybe I should be more proud of the Bordeaux I have been lucky enough to taste. Maybe I should put my hard earned education and dollars to better use by dining in fine restaurants. But I know where my cravings take me, and onion rings with tartar sauce are far more likely than sea urchin or Chateaubriand.
The truth of the matter is, my refrigerator holds condiments, soda water, and milk. My freezer, on the other hand, has a fast moving rotation of Totino’s pizza rolls, ice cream, and an array of frozen pizzas.
Read the rest of this entry »
February 12th, 2009 | No Comments »
Hope you all have been making soup since my last newsletter.
Today I was working on the lobster sweet potato gratin for the “Heart and Soul” Valentines dinner coming up this weekend at the Palace Ballroom. Our theme is southern cooking, but as I worked through this dish with the help of my longtime co-author Shelley Lance, I found myself returning to the days of being a cook’s helper at the Hotel DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware in1976.
Uncle Duppies, as we fondly called it back then, is a classic gem of a hotel, quite literally the hub of Wilmington. When the DuPont company couldn’t find an appropriate place to house their executives they built their own. For many years and still to this day, they set the gold standard for hospitality in the region.
As a cook’s helper my first job was to shuck fish sized Cherrystone clams and Bluepoint oysters, peel mounds of giant scampi and cook and crack cases of Maine lobster. The rookie gashes that still scar my hands are a daily reminder of how not to open oysters. It was fun for me to follow the trails of the “prep” I had done in the massive basement kitchens up into the lofty, hightly regarded dining halls of the hotel.
To read more of Tom’s letter click here.
February 11th, 2009 | No Comments »
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