January for most people is a time for New Year’s resolutions. This may include joining a gym, meditating, or even going to an extreme dietary change, eating only vegan. When I was first challenged by my friend to “go vegan” for a month, I thought she was out of her mind.  An entire month without creamy cheeses, crispy bacon,melted butter on toast and so many other tantalizing foods!!  Well I took her up on the challenge.  I also decided to eat at as many of the Tom Douglas Restaurants as I could and discover what they had to offer vegan dieters.

Shelley Lance, our fabulous cookbook editor in chief joined me for the first two restaurants that I took on a vegan trial run.  We started at Seatown.  At first glance the menu seemed as if it might be difficult to navigate with a restricted diet, but upon speaking with the very knowledgeable server we were able to put together a very delicious lunch that did not stray far from the original menu items.

We started with an absolutely mouth watering-ly delicious vegan soup.  Roasted pumpkin and butternut squash with cilantro and coconut milk garnished with pickled honey crisp apples. The creaminess from the coconut milk and the crunchy apple made the soup seem as if it wasn’t vegan at all.  For my main dish I had the chop salad with hazelnuts and delicata squash that had been rubbed with the Bengal Masala Rub with Love spice rub.  MMMMMMMMM!!!!!!  As a side, one of the cooks also sent out a heavenly bowl of shredded brussels sprouts with more of the tasty Rub with Love rubbed delicata squash.  I left Seatown feeling very satisfied.  Next time I will be sure to try the Seatown Vegan Mary made with Mischief  vodka!

The next Vegan Challenge- lunch at the Dahlia Lounge!

Pineapple upside down cake- Palace

Shaker Meyer lemon pie- Palace

Lemon meringue- Dahlia

Dahlia’s Valentine Day dessert- Sneak Peek!!  peanut butter and banana!

Have you ever grabbed a bag of our house made breadsticks from the Dahlia Bakery?

They are the perfect addition to cheese trays and salads for parties and dinners at home.

Devon is our adorable Workshop bread lead who has the fun task of making around 400 a week in his zen-like manner!

After cutting the dough in the pasta machine, he places them symmetrically on baking sheets and lightly sprinkles poppy, sesame, and fennel seeds, along with a little salt before he bakes them to the perfect crispness in our big French bakery ovens.

We also serve them with our Sea Bar at the Dahlia Lounge in case you want a tasty little snack before your next dinner at Dahlia, of just pop in and enjoy them at Happy Hour with one of our specialty cocktails!

Alright, folks, we want to hear from you!  You may have heard that the Dahlia Bakery Cookbook is due out in Fall 2012, and guess who we would like to feature? That’s right: YOU, our loyal customers! (and that includes our loyal staff!)

Do you have a favorite memory of the coconut cream pie? Maybe the first time you laid eyes on it?  The 10th time you gave it to your mom for her birthday? Bringing it to a friend’s house for Thanksgiving?  Or maybe just sneaking a pie bite at the bakery every Friday?  We want to know what place the coco pie holds in your heart… please add your pie story as a comment here.

Thank you for sharing twenty years of coconutty indulgence with us!!

(Photo courtesy of Jerad Knudson)

Another very cool thing about this Timpano is that Stuart said basically every member and department of the kitchen helped create this masterpiece for our Cuoco Sicily dinner.

Brian roasted the fennel and peppers and boiled the eggs.

Erik and Jack made the sausage.

Erik and Drew made the meatballs.

Team Pasta made the tortelllini

Joe made the bechamel.

Stuart made the crust

It was a big team effort and it turned out delicious!!

Chef Stuart Lane made this fabulous Timpano for a special Sicily dinner at Cuoco last Tuesday night.

This is a step by step of the process:

First we have special bowls that we bake the Timpano in.

Then the dough.

For the fillings, in this order:

Grilled fennel

Housemade sausage

Roasted red peppers

Bechamel

Boar tortellini

Pecorino

Braised beef meatballs

House made sausage

Grilled fennel

Pecorino

Crust

Here’s Catering Chef Matt Anderson making haggis for the 2nd Annual Slainte- a celebration of Scottish fare- that’s happening  tonight at the Palace Ballroom!

First Matt made his haggis broth from lamb livers and hearts.  Then he made the haggis filling from beef suet and steel cut oats seasoned with herbs, salt, and pepper and well moistened with haggis broth.  Now he’s putting the haggis filling into the stomach.  (Sheep stomach is traditional but it’s not available, so Matt is using beef cow stomach).  Then he ties up the stomach and boils it in water flavored with aromatics for three hours.  After the haggis is cooked it will be served with the traditional “neeps and tatties,” which means parsnips and potatoes mashed together with butter and cream. People loved it last year, says Matt.  Of course, a wee dram of Scotch plays a part in the enjoyment!

Tom Douglas just came back from Hawaii bragging about the Hawaiian libations he enjoyed on his vacation.

Here is Dahlia Chef Brock Johnson’s favorite pineapple infused drink:

1  1/2 cups crushed ice

1  1/2 ounces white rum

1  1/2 ounces coconut milk

1 ounce pineapple juice

5 to 6 leaves Thai basil

Float of dark rum

I’ve been curious about what happens over in the adorable farm-style kitchen at The Pantry at Delancey, so I scooted over there on Sunday to learn “How to be a Pie Ninja.”  I’m not sure how I was lucky enough to snag a space- the classes sell out on the regular, but there I was, getting an intensive on lemon meringue with almond crust, banana cream pie with oat crust, and peanut butter pie with chocolate wafer crust (and roasted peanuts and sea salt if we’re really hitting the highlights here).  (Peanut pie in photo above).

Lemon meringue pie has been the bane of my Thanksgiving existence for 4 years running now.  Every year, either the meringue or the curd fails (doesn’t set, sets too hard, weeps, won’t slice, etc), and I keep trying because it is my most favorite pie in the world. (See photo of perfect meringue from the pie class above.)  I recently realized my long-held affinity for this pie began at lunches at Chick-Fil-A with my dad when I was young.  If you Yankees out there are not familiar with this temple to the chicken nugget, there’s really no use in me telling you about it.  Go see for yourself sometime when you are in my hometown, Atlanta, or other Southernly spot, and wash the pie down with a sweet tea if your teeth haven’t fallen out yet.

Anyway, fast food pies aside, my love has endured, and I was determined to master this fluffy pile of happiness…. after all, I need that lemony vitamin C right now.

(Peanut, lemon meringue, and banana cream pie on a plate in the photo above.)

If you missed Seattle Kitchen on KIRO 97.3  radio last weekend you’re in luck because you can listen to it right here!