Here’s the pie we made especially for President Obama. The dishwasher/prepsters who shave the blocks of white chocolate for the bakers really liked it when I told them they were making “Obama curls!”
Editor’s Note: Our catering team catered a President Obama fund-raising lunch last Sunday, September 25, at the Paramount. We’ve catered events for Obama 4 times now, twice as Senator and twice as President. This is the third time we’ve proudly presented him with his own coconut cream pie!
September 29th, 2011 | No Comments »
It only took the first downpour of autumn to put me in the mood to test apple pie recipes. This one will be washed down with slices of sharp cheddar and a bourbon… maybe it’s hot toddy time? Stay tuned for recipe #2…
September 27th, 2011 | 2 Comments »
At last!! We have a book contract with a publisher!!
Hip Hip Hooray!!! The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook will be published by William Morrow (the same publisher we had for our first 3 books, but with a new editor and team.)
The book is scheduled to come out in Fall, 2012. (Also, the news about our cookbook deal came out on Eater a couple days ago.)
Fall, 2012- that’s a long time from now, but we will do our level best to make it worth the wait! (In fact, on my “staycation” last week, I successfully tested 2 new recipes for the book, a luscious, vanilla scented peach jam that’s a breeze to make, and the Dahlia Bakery‘s sensationally chocolate-y rich pecan brownies- also quite easy to make- and which I’ve found can be thrown in a sealable plastic bag in the freezer and eaten at your leisure one by one in front of the TV.)
For a “taste” of the 135 recipes in the book, take a look at the photos, left to right:
top row: silk chocolate cream pie (without whip cream topping), buttermilk biscuits, hot buttered rum apple pie, English muffin fried egg sandwich
second row: chocolate heartland bundt cake, Jackie’s strata with sausage and chard, granola, lemon meringue tart
third row: old fashioned pumpkin pie, jellies and jams, olive oil cake with Brachetto cherries, cherry almond scones
bottom row: Julie making muffins, Beth icing yellow cupcakes, Garrett topping banana cream pie, Garrett icing double chocolate cake (By the way, Beth’s baby boy, Carter, our “unofficial recipe taster” during Beth’s pregnancy, was born a week ago! Beth and I agree that a good portion of his healthy 8 pounds 9 ounces weight came from all the Dahlia cupcakes Beth ate while testing!)
September 26th, 2011 | 6 Comments »
Thinking that our Indian Summer had already come to a close this weekend, I decided to make some autumnal food. Two double cut pork chops roasting away in the oven with potatoes, fennel, garlic, onion, and rosemary! I also made a side of homemade apple compote. I’m happy that the sun is back, but I will say it felt nice and cozy to eat some fall foods this weekend.
Next on my fall foods list: the ham and white bean stew from Jacques Pepin’s new cookbook, Essential Pepin, that will be released later this year. By the way do you know that we’re going to be hosting an event with Jacques, Tom, and Thierry at the Palace Ballroom? Keep your eyes on “Events.”
(Editor’s note: for a preview of some recipes from Jacques Pepin’s new book, pick up the October issue of Food & Wine.)
September 20th, 2011 | No Comments »
I enjoyed the first day of my “staycation” by having lunch at the Dahlia Lounge with Robyn Wolfe, Marketing. Robyn and I were eager to try out Chef Brock Johnson’s newly reformatted lunch menu, which divides things up neatly between “Starters” and “Main.” A brand new feature of this menu is the option of choosing any one starter and any one main for $18. (It depends what you choose of course, but this could mean a savings of up to 8 bucks.)
Choosing among the starters, we ordered the Prosser tomato with watermelon, jicama, lime, and avocado- fresh, bright, and summery (photo top)- as well as the Pence Orchard peaches with country ham and padron peppers- a classic combination and the thin slices of mildly spicy pepper made the whole thing pop. Another treat was the plate of Hook’s Paradise blue cheese with a drizzle of very fine honey, crackers, marcona almonds, and black mission figs which were halved and delicately “bruleed” with a crackling sugar crust (photo directly above). The Washington albacore, seared rare and perched on a fennel and cuke salad with green olives and a pool of Greek yogurt was also delicious.
On to the main courses. The new chop salad with chicken breast, salami, and jack cheese in a lively white balsamic vinaigrette is a no-brainer lunch time winner. The true cod with fresh shelling beans, clams, and Brock’s handmade linguica sausage in tomato saffron broth was picture perfect and full of flavor. (photo above)
But my top favorite was the Dungeness crab cake, crabby but light and delicate with a good crust, served alongside a spectacular tiny-dice potato salad with slices of Jackie’s yellow heirloom tomatoes and perfect Prosser bread and butter pickles, garnished with a few crisp potato chips (photo above). The most enjoyable crab cake ever! Despite being professional eaters, Robyn and I were too full to sample desserts on this visit- next time!
(Photos courtesy of Robyn Wolfe)
September 18th, 2011 | 3 Comments »
It was a treat to work with the head brewer, Dick Cantwell of Elysian Brewery (on Capitol Hill) on a pumpkin beer made from Prosser Farm pumpkins and wild fennel. If anyone is known for brewing pumpkin beer- it’s Cantwell. He is the Pumpkin King! He’s the man! Working side by side with Dick Cantwell on pumpkin beer is like making crab cakes with Tom Douglas!
I met Cantwell and a crew of brewers at the Elysian Brewery. First, I grabbed a cleaver and whacked up Jackie’s wild fennel. We threw the fennel and 120 pounds of pumpkin pulp into the mash tun and we brewed up a pumpkin beer. Cantwell had decided, since we were bringing pumpkins from a farm, that we should do a Belgian style of beer that’s “farm house style,” or in beer terms, a “saison.” So, that’s what we made: a rustic, pumpkin saison. I wanted to come up with the name and wanted to tie in with Brave Horse Tavern so I thought of the “Headless Horseman.” But Cantwell said he had used a similar name for another beer. So, I started thinking about October, and Halloween, and about “saison,” and I came up with “Saison of the Witch,” as the name of our new pumpkin beer.
“Saison of the Witch” will debut September 20 at our Octoberfest Dinner at Brave Horse so join us there for a taste of this beer.
We’ll also have the beer on draft at Brave Horse and at all of the Tom Douglas Restaurants for the month of October. Or you can get the beer at Elysian’s festival:
Elysian puts on the “Great Pumpkin Beer Festival” in October. Last year they had around 20 different pumpkin beers, made by Elysian brewers and guest brewers. The festival is super awesome. It’s a big party to celebrate fall and celebrate pumpkins and celebrate beer! Come celebrate at the festival this October and sample a little “Saison of the Witch!”
September 15th, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Last night we kicked off our new cooking series, “From Prosser Farm to Our Table,” with Dev Patal, part time Serious Pie cook and full time Prosser Farm gardener!
All summer, Dev has spent his long weekdays working alongside Jackie Cross on planning, planting, and harvesting their bounty. All of our restaurant kitchens are full of heirloom tomatoes and other vegetables and the chefs are featuring them in fresh and innovative ways.
Dev showed how easy it is to make tomato water from over-ripe tomatoes and transform it into a delicious clam soup seasoned with star anise, saffron, and almond flour roux. His simple cheese spread accented a fresh tomato salad of cucumber coins, fenugreek leaves, and dehydrated brioche all lightly dressed with cumin and chili flake olive oil dressing.
Our last taste of tomato water granita garnished with borage petals left us craving more!
(Note: in the photo, top, Dev is on the left, and another Prosser Farmer, Annie Koshi-Karell, is on the right.
September 14th, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I recently had lunch at Seatown, and the place never seems to fail my expectations! The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, and the food is fresh and solid. First: Kelly makes a delicious margarita! I started off with half dozen Penn Cove Select oysters which were chilled, small, plump salty, and sweet. The mignonette was tangy with red wine vinegar and it had a nice amount of black pepper to round things out.
The Dungeness crab cocktail (photo, top) is the best in the city! Lots of local, chilled sweet crab tossed with slivers of celery to add crunch and the coffee-spiked cocktail sauce is out of this world!
I believe that the sticky ribs with a Chinese 12 Spice glaze drizzled on are some of the best in the city. The meat- yes! falls right off the bone. Such a great profusion of different spices and sweetness. The Chinese ramen noodles that accompany the ribs are tossed with a bit of Chinese mustard for a little kick. How does lunch get any better? (answer: sit outside on the patio!)
September 13th, 2011 | 1 Comment »
A long time ago, when my sister-in-law Denise would visit me from Wichita, Kansas, we used to dine at Queenies, our favorite (wait in line for 40 minutes) lunch haunt in Tulsa’s beautiful Utica Square. It seems each lunch I can remember, we would treat ourselves first to their divine strawberry cream cake while waiting for our grilled cheese dream sandwich and egg salad sandwich, our two favorites off the menu (unless a daily special made us drift.)
Week before last, I was reminded of this cherished ritual of “eat dessert first” when a group of us gorged ourselves on at least 15 different ice creams at the Ice Cream Social (photo, top) at the Palace Ballroom, before scoring a table at Palace Kitchen for a 2nd- this time savory- dinner.
Chef Dezi Bonow did not disappoint on a single item that was presented with grace by Ryan, our server. The Iberico paleta ham with coastal chanterelles, corn grits, spicy peach, and fresh basil was heaven on a plate, and the pairing of flavors seemed to melt in our mouths. Curried eggplant croquettes were incredibly crisp and tender accompanied by tomato jam, coriander-almond sauce, and garlic top pickles.
The Neah Bay salmon dish (photo above) was brilliant served with a smear of eggplant ash (who even knew this existed before Dezi came to town?) along with those incredibly delicious Prosser Farm tomatoes transformed into a vinagraitte and served with a nice hunk of grilled house loaf! Dezi’s “mixed grill: pig” included Bershire loin, marjoram sausage, beer braised leg, peewee potatoes (smaller than a dime!) stewed okra, and pickled peppers, need I say more? You can only imagine how delicioius and satisfying that dish was! Oh yeah, and then there was the Palace Burger Royale…. but that’s a whole nother story!
September 12th, 2011 | No Comments »
Such a glorious, sunny, end-of-summer- is-wistfully-near kinda day, just right for taking a walk to the market. Not surprisingly the outdoor tables for both Seatown and Rub Shack were starting to fill up. I walked into the shack to be greeted by the lovely Katie O (photo above), our marketing manager, pulling a shift at the Shack today.
The Shack is the place to buy any of our Rub with Love spices and sauces, plus rotisserie meats seasoned with Rub with Love, or sandwiches made from the rotisserie meats. You can eat a sandwich at one of the outdoor tables or take it to go.
I love that Rub with Love manager, Carol, made this fantastic recipe box to display our Rub recipes! I hear that the 12-spice Snickerdoodle recipe is a favorite!
In my opinion, a turkey sandwich is a perfect lunch, so I ordered the Shack’s version: slices of moist, Peri-Peri seasoned turkey, sriracha mayo, and sliced tomatoes on a handmade bun. (The peri-peri is one of my favorite rubs by the way. I use it all the time at home.)
Don’t you love when you order a sandwich and someone slices the meat right before your eyes? This is Virginia (photo above.)
Here’s the delicious turkey sandwich, back at my desk and ready to be devoured!
September 6th, 2011 | No Comments »
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