Have you ever had a half size oven, four small burners, and NO counter space? I have. It never seemed to be an issue until one year, my roommate and I decided to make the entire Thanksgiving dinner ourselves. The crockpot stuffing recipe idea came about to save on everything: time, oven, burner, and counter space. I woke up Thanksgiving morning, set the crockpot on an end table in the living room, plugged it in, and set it on low. Then I prepared the stuffing (which you could do on Wednesday night and then just mix in the morning), dumped it in the pot and let it do its own thing all day long. Around 4pm, just before our guests started arriving, I put the crockpot insert on the dining room table and hid the base in the closet. The insert is so heavy that the stuffing stayed hot all the way through dinner!
Even though, over the years, I’ve upgraded in the kitchen department, I still continue to use this technique every year. It’s super light and fluffy, while being moist all the way through. The recipe is super basic- feel free to be creative and make it your own. You can add nuts, omit the sausage; the possibilities are endless.
You can pick up our Sage Foccacia Stuffing Cubes with my recipe attached at the Dahlia Bakery ($5.95 per bag and feeds 4 to 6 people.) The foccacia is made by Gwen LeBlanc (our head bread baker) and her crew. It is a “stuffing flavored” foccacia with sage, roasted onions, celery seed, and thyme baked right into the bread. We cube it up, toss it in butter, then dry it out in the oven. Then we bag it up and attach the recipe. Stop by the Dahlia Bakery and pick up a bag. Enjoy and have a great Thanksgiving! Here’s the recipe: Read the rest of this entry »
November 24th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
If you’re still thinking about what to make for Thanksgiving, here are a couple of our favorite recipes with some step by step instructions:
First, Tom makes King Boletus Bread Stuffing on King 5 TV and includes a quick tip on how to make a turkey brine by adding salt, sugar, and water to one jar of Rub with Love Turkey Rub.
Next, If you’re not buying a coconut cream pie from the Dahlia Bakery, why not try your hand at making it yourself? Enthusiastic young foodie, Judy, shows you how on her blog, Domestic Goddess Adventures. She says the pie came out perfectly and includes beautiful step by step photos. (I’m thinking about buying one of those cheery, bright red Emile Henry pie plates!)
Happy Thanksgiving to all!!
November 22nd, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I’m in Milwaukee to see The Boss, see friends, and eat at some of my favorite places. Elsa’s on the Park has always been one of my favorite lounges ever! They have a chic vibe, but welcome everybody be it punk or lawyer.
They also have some of the best half pound burgers on the planet! With 40 degree temperatures, nothing says Comfort Food more than a cup of hot, spicy chili!! Pairing it up with a delicious, local root beer by Sprecher makes for a perfect lunchtime antidote to a cold, Midwestern afternoon!
November 21st, 2009 | No Comments »
When we came up with the idea to produce a small desk calendar for Dahlia’s 20th anniversary, it was obvious we had to have a Dahlia-esque recipe for each month. So we chose 12 recipes ranging from Tom’s favorite tomato soup with brown butter croutons, to Loretta’s oodles of noodles (situated in March, her birthday month), to Steven Steinbock’s perfect panfried petrale sole. I assumed we’d be taking a food photo of each recipe for the calendar, but, instead, Jackie Cross had what I consider to be a rather brilliant idea. Since Tom and Jackie have been collecting art all these years from their favorite local artists to decorate the walls of their restaurants, Jackie asked each of these artists to create an original illustration matched to an assigned recipe for each month. The illustrations these artists came up with are pretty amazing. (You can also see the calendar images framed and hanging on the wall in Dahlia’s private dining room.) Some are literal minded, like the pudgy little creme caramel with a drip of caramel created by artist John Randall. Others take a more oblique approach to the recipe, like the hooded, print-covered, April-showers-rainy-day bicyclist by Sherry Karver which decorates the potato gnocchi recipe.
All in all, a pretty sweet little item to celebrate something that’s only coming around once- our 20th anniversary. Full disclosure: I bought 30 of these calendars for myself and my husband to give as Christmas and Hanukkah gifts. Of course, the Dahlia is very special to me. If the Dahlia is a little bit special to you, you might want to pick up at least one for yourself and a couple for gifts. They’re available at the Dahlia Bakery for $15, and $5 of that is a donation to Food Lifeline. Don’t you love a holiday gift that’s also a donation to a good cause?
November 20th, 2009 | No Comments »
It is raining cats and dogs outside… but it’s dry and cozy in the studio this week with Tom and Thierry! (mostly Tom though… since this week Thierry will be out of studio and checking in with us from sunny San Diego, CA!)
Where to begin with the fun we’ve got planned this week? Well, for starts we have the always charming Amy Pennington of GoGoGreenGarden on the show dropping some knowledge about KALE. Lacinato kale to be exact. She’ll talk about how to grow and harvest this much beloved plant while debating with Tom about how best to cook it.
Mike Teer of the beautiful Pike and Western Wine Shop, located right in the heart of the market, will be on to talk about his wine pick of the week.
Our special guest for the show will be Harris Salat, co-author of the book “Japanese Hot Pots”. He’ll talk about his passion for Japanese cooking, and his drive behind writing this beautiful book.
We’ll also check in with producer Katie O to see what’s hot on the streets of Seattle. Last week it was Ikea for meatballs, and this week she steps it up, puts on her heels, and is heading to the 20 Something wine event put on by the Washington Wine Comission.
Listen to the show here!:
First hour
Second hour
Third hour
November 20th, 2009 | No Comments »
This is a good-bye note to my fabulous old English sheepdog, Bentley
I just had the unpleasant task of putting my favorite thing in the whole world down for an eternal sleep. Bentley was one of 11little puppies, and I acquired him over 10 years ago. I chose him out of all 11 due to his gorgeous blue eye, the other was brown. He had an awesome life, but had gradually slowed down in the past year, and after an unusually tough weekend, I had one last consultation with the vet on Monday and knew the following day would be his last. I stayed up with that little boy until 3 am, petting him, comforting him, singing to him, feeding him treats, and making sure he knew he was the most important being in the universe.
The following morning, I helped him get up. He ate a big breakfast with an egg on top, and I helped hoist him into the back seat of my husband’s car. This was Bentley’s favorite place to be; he loved to spend his days in the back seat of the car. I often had to tempt him out of the seat with peanut butter smeared all over his tasty homemade bones just to get him in the house for the night. (Here’s Bentley’s favorite dog bone recipe, but I always added crumbled bacon to them!) Anyway, after driving all around Discovery Park- so close to the trails where he loved to run ahead of me- and down Magnolia Boulevard, another favorite walking place of ours, I pulled up next to the vet’s office and let them know we had arrived. I fed sweet Bentley his last meal of poached chicken (I’m so thankful he never lost that voracious appetite of his!), and the vet and her assistant climbed into the back seat with us, and we assisted him at slowly going to sleep.
I want to thank all my friends and co-workers for their undying support and sympathy- they have been over the top at staying in touch with me and offering all kinds of help and comforting words, and it means the world to me…. good night, sweet Bentley, and thank you for years of fabulous memories. You were the best.
November 19th, 2009 | 5 Comments »
One of the things I love most about working in the back kitchen on a Saturday night is that I get my chance to throw a dinner party for my coworkers. In a short amount of time, I have to put up enough food to satisfy about 15 to 20 people; it must be quick, delicious, and efficient. The basic principles of creating family meal are the same as they are for a casual dinner party at home. As cheesy as it sounds, T.A.S.T.E sums it up:
Tasty: Always make it delicious. There may not be a lot to work with, but trust me, everyone really appreciates a good meal when they’re working hard. Another motivation for making a delicious family meal? Chances are that everyone will like you a little more, which roughly translates to “someone might buy you a cocktail after work.”
Appetite: Never underestimate how much people can eat. I’ve learned it’s better to make too much than too little. Made 3 enormous pans of nachos? No worries. THEY WILL BE EATEN.
Salad: I serve a salad with every family meal I make. It gives the illusion that the Frito Pie or cheesy pasta wasn’t all that bad for you.
Time: It’s always important to remember that one must act quickly. If you are having a dinner party, you want to spend a majority of your night with guests, not making hte perfect coq au vin. If you are making family meal, you want to spend a majority of your night peeling and roasting fifty pounds of turnips, not making perfect coq au kitchen wine.
Efficiency: Use what’s around. Try to keep things simple so as to avoid using too many ingredients from all over the kitchen and making things more complicated than they need to be, thus resulting in a minor, yet annoying, stress overload. Use leftover chicken or pasta; keep things casual. On Halloween, while dressed as a lumberjack, I made super simple tortilla soup: Saute a few diced onions with a fistful of spices- I used Rub with Love Pork Rub- all the spices already combined, and it makes everything way easier (spices like cumin, coriander, paprika, dried thyme, red pepper flake, and cayenne work beautifully.) I added two quarts of canned whole tomatoes and one quart of chicken stock, let it simmer a few minutes, then added a few pounds of leftover cooked and cubed chicken. Done. Easy, totally delicious, and fast. Another good tip to feeding the masses? CONDIMENTS!!! Sour cream, cheese, scallions, tortilla strips, diced pepper, cabbage. People love personalizing things, especially food.
It all comes down to trusting yourself and what’s around. Save the super fancy stuff for when you’ve mentally prepared yourself for a crippling panic attack. Cook what you like, cook what you know, and everything else just falls into place.
November 18th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
A few pix from our Gala Celebration:
Top photo: party-revelers in the private dining room. Behind them is the framed art from our Dahlia 20th Anniversary Calendar. (The calendar is available for sale in the Dahlia Bakery; $15 price includes $5 donation to Food Lifeline).
Second photo from top: Juanny Cash croons for the crowd.
Photo bottom left: Tom and Jackie
Photo bottom right: A real live mermaid!!!
What else? Dahlia duck buns, king crab and raw oysters, bread salad, coco pie bites, bottles of Dahlia Anniversary Red from Kay and Clay of Chinook Winery, many friends, and many memories.
November 17th, 2009 | No Comments »
The Gala 20th Anniversary party at the Dahlia Lounge last Sunday night was also a fundraiser for Food Lifeline- a good cause that Tom, Jackie and Tom Douglas Restaurants have chosen to support all these 20 years. There was a Food Lifeline collection container at the entrance, and a Food Lifeline truck parked right out front on the street. We asked our guests to bring a food donation to the party; many also wrote generous checks. So far, the Dahlia Anniversary party has raised $913 in cash and we collected 533 pounds of food donations!! Well done, friends and family!!
November 17th, 2009 | No Comments »
We recently escaped Seattle and went to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, for 8 days of rest, sun, and relaxation. The water was blue and beautiful, the people super nice, and the food marvelous! Each day we alternated lunches- either sitting on the beach on a lounge chair under an umbrella or getting tacos from a vendor’s cart downtown next to a park.
After breakfast at the hotel, our beach lunch routine was always the same because it was so darned perfect: swim in the waves of the blue water, order a pina colada or mojito, and a big order of fresh guacamole, liberal amount of hot sauce, basket of chips, and grouper ceviche (photo top left). Nibble, read, sip, nibble, read, sip… so heavenly that it was almost unbelievable!
The taco cart meal was typically the same: several pork tacos and several chicken tacos on small, soft tortillas (photo bottom). The pork was always juicy and tender, and the chicken had huitlacoche mixed in it. Huitlacoche is the smoky tasting black mold that grows on ears of corn and is highly prized in Mexico. The Aztec name translates as “raven’s excrement!” We would take our tacos and bottle of Coke and sit on a bench in the quiet town park and look at the water. The tacos were only about 75 cents apiece.
The Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico is incredibly beautiful, peaceful, and mostly tranquil. The people are also very nice, the prices very affordable, and they also greatly need our dollars. Highly recommend a visit; we will definitely return.
November 17th, 2009 | No Comments »
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