//The Bounty of Blissful Berry Bites

Who's got fresh picked berries and cherries in her refrigerator? ME.

Late this Spring, my mom introduced me to the idea of going to "pick-your-own farms" to get fresh berries. She went berry picking with her friend Judy, and together they brought back 6 pounds of ripe 'n' ready blueberries. 6 pounds! Then, during my last flight to Portland, I sat next to a computer programmer who was particularly knowledgeable about the pick-your-own farm scene. He also told me about Sauvie Island Farms, and said they had some of the best pick-your-own produce in the Portland area.

These 2 separate events caused me to go "Hmmm. Maybe there's something to this pick-your-own berry thing." I floated the idea of going berry picking to Mr. Professional Nerd, because I thought it'd be a fun date to go on, and also because there isn't any form of reliable public transportation that goes out to the island. He agreed to drive me to the farm, and even offered to help me pick berries... so long as I paid him in berry-themed food. I agreed to the terms of the deal.

Mr. Professional Nerd and I, we're a Super Awesome Berry Picking team! 2 hours = yielded several pounds of berries. I'm a pick-your-own convert now. The fields are just 20 minutes from home, the berries are a piddly $1.75/lb, and they are vastly superior — taste, texture, size — to anything you'd find at the grocery store. The raspberries are especially delicious, and HUGE (roundest section of the berries are about the width of a nickle!). I'm a very happy lady right now.

In keeping my promise to Mr. Professional Nerd, I'm going spend the entire week making meals and desserts that have berries and cherries in them. I've decided to call this cooking fest "The Bounty of Blissful Berry Bites." Check the blog each day for new updates.

Gotta run back to the kitchen!

//Happy Muffin Day!

To celebrate the arrival of the Oregon's cherry and blueberry season, I made...

Cherry-Berry-Choco-Walnut Muffins

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsps pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup candied walnuts (your own, or store-bought — this is the recipe I used)
3/4 cup dried blueberries
3/4 cup pitted red cherries



Before you begin, you're going to want to pit the cherries and soak the dried blueberries in hot water. The water will cause the blueberries to plump during the baking process. Preheat oven to 375°. Position rack in center of oven. Butter and flour dust 1 standard size muffin tin.

In a large measuring cup or bowl whisk together the cooled butter, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract.

In another large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips. With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients, along with the cherries, blueberries and candied walnuts, into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Again, apply the 15 strokes method when mixing.

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter (the muffin cups will be full). Place in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing from pan.

//Labor of Love: Recreating the Pretzel Croissant

Once upon a time there was a bakery in the Brentwood/Santa Monica area called The City Bakery. And this bakery once sold pieces of happiness in the form Pretzel Croissants for $3.75 a pop. Now, these croissants... they were these amazing multi-layered, butter-bursting, sesame-dusted, salty, crispy-caramel-colored puffs of utter ecstasy. People came from far and wide to get these croissants fresh off the cooling racks each morning and throughout the afternoon. I was one of those individuals, and did I travel far to get them.

These croissants were better than any of the ones I had in Paris two years ago, so much so that during my first trip to the bakery, I went back inside and got myself another one. I remember it being really hard not to eat the second croissant right then and there: I finally had to break down and eat some Reese's peanut butter Easter eggs to take my mind off of it. (I lead a difficult life, I'm aware.) The best part about the experience was the fact that if I gave the pastry the slightest pinch, melted butter seeped out from the layers. That's right, the croissant oozed butter! So it wasn't the most heart-healthy thing to eat. But it was a croissant! IT WASN'T MEANT TO BE. Oh, it was so good. So very, very good.

And then one Saturday, City Bakery went bye-bye. Shuttered. No more. It didn't bother me all much because I'd already made up my mind to move away from Los Angeles, but I imagine it left a void in the hearts of each one of the bakery's fervent devotees. A void once filled with the arterial plaque that developed from having ingested too much butter, but a void nonetheless.

There still exists a City Bakery in New York City, and they still serve Pretzel Croissants, and I'm sure they'll gladly UPS you however many croissants $20 gets you. But there might come a time when you wake up and want a Pretzel Croissant before the day is over, and you happen to live on the other side of the country. Should that ever happen to you, I've got just the recipe for you.



Pretzel Croissant
(an adaptation of Martha Stewart's croissant recipe, found in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook)

2 cups cold milk
2 tbsp honey
1 1/2 lbs (about 4 1/2 cups) bread flour, plus more for dusting
4 oz (scant 1 cup) pastry flour (if you don't have pastry flour, mix equal halves of all-purpose and cake flour)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 oz fresh yeast, crumbled
1 tbsp plus 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 3/4 lbs (5 sticks) unsalted butter, cold
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Enough kosher salt and white sesame seeds to sprinkle over the dough before you place it in the oven

Helps to have:

A pastry scraper
A pizza roller
A ruler
Baking sheets with edges to prevent melted butter from running off while the croissants are baking



For the dough:

Pour the milk and honey into a 1-quart liquid measure cup, and stir to combine. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, stir together 1 lb 6 oz (about 4 1/14 cups) bread flour, pastry flour, sugar, yeast and salt; stir to combine. Add the milk mixture, and mix on low speed until the dough just comes together, about 2-3 minutes.

(Chef's note: Keep in mind that salt kills yeast, so I always add the salt to the bottom of the mixer, and put the yeast on top of the flour. It's also really important that you have a dough hook because other attachments won't mix the ingredients as thoroughly.)

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface; gently knead to form a smooth ball, about 45 seconds. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

For the butter package:

Lay the butter sticks side by side on a piece of plastic wrap, and sprinkle with the remaining 2 oz of bread flour. Pound with a rolling pin until flour is incorporated, and roll into an 8-inch-square. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Remove dough package from the refrigerator; place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out to a 16-by-10 inch rectangle, about 1/2 inch thick, with a short side facing you; keep the corners as square as possible. Remove any excess flour with a dry pastry brush. Remove butter package from refrigerator, and place it on top of the dough package. Starting at the far end, fold the top half of the rectangle over the butter package; repeat with the bottom half, there will be some overlapping. Flip the dough over, so the seams are face down. Proceed to roll the dough so that the butter integrates itself into the dough package. You will want to roll it out again to a 16 x 10 inch rectangle. Then fold the dough in third like a letter.

This completes the first of 3 turns. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 1 hour.



Repeat rolling and folding as above 2 more times, starting with the flap opening on the right, as if it were a book, and refrigerate at least 1 hour between turns. After the third and final roll, refrigerate one more time, 6 to 8 hours, to overnight.

Later than day/the following morning, turn out chilled dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll out the dough to a 30-by-16 inch rectangle. Using a pizza wheel or pastry cutter, cut the dough in half lengthwise to form two 30-by-8-inch rectangles. Stack one piece of dough on top of the other, lining up edges. Using the pizza wheel, cut dough into triangles, each with a 4-inch base. Cut a 1-inch slit in the center of the base of each triangle. Place triangles in a single layer on a clean work surface.

To shape the croissants, stretch the two lower points of each triangle to enlarge the slit slightly. Fold the inner corners formed by the slit toward the outer sides of the triangle, and press down to seal. Using your fingertips, roll the base of the triangle up and away from you, stretching the dough slightly outward as you roll, the trip should be tucked under the croissant. Put the two ends toward you to form a crescent. Transfer crescents to two parchment-lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm spot until very spongy and doubled in bulk, about 45-60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400°, with the racks in the upper and lower thirds. Lightly brush crescents with beaten egg and sprinkle with kosher salt and sesame seeds. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until the croissants are puffed and golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer sheets to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.


The Chef, with the aforementioned Pretzel Croissant, the day before City Bakery closed in April 2009.

//Definitely Phobulous

Traditional Vietnamese Pho
(recipe courtesy of FoodNetwork, with some modifications)
(originally served with Summer Solstice Rice Pudding)

For the broth:

4 lbs beef neck bones or Oxtails (if the latter, cut into 1 1/2 to 2-inch pieces and trimmed of fat)
3-inch piece of ginger, unpeeled
1 large onion, halved and unpeeled
1/3 cup fish sauce
8 whole star anise
5 whole cloves
3-inch cinnamon stick
1 tsp fennel seeds
3 bay leaves

For the garnish:

1 lb 1/4-inch rice noodles
2 bunches scallions, sliced thin
1/2 cup tightly packed fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
1/2 cup parsley, roughly chopped
1/2 cup basil, approximately, whole fresh plants (minus roots) if possible
1 1/2 cups mung bean sprouts
3 large limes, cut into wedges and seeds removed
Red chile paste or sliced fresh hot chilies (optional)
3/4 lbs beef round steak, paper-thin

Put the neck or oxtails (or both!) into a large stockpot and add 2 gallons of water until the meat is completely submerged. Bring to a full boil and then lower the heat to a rapid simmer. Skim the scum that rises to the surface. (Chef's note: I chose to do a "fake-out boil" where I boiled the meat until the scum rose to the surface, drained the pot, and reintroduced fresh water. This method ensures that final broth is fairly scum-free.)

After you've returned the water to a boil, place the ginger and onion halves on a baking sheet and char them under the broiler until lightly blackened, 10 to 15 minutes. Turn them over halfway through cooking. When cool enough to handle, rinse the onion and ginger under running water, using a knife to scrape away some of the charred surface. Cut the ginger into 3 pieces and toss it and the onion halves into the simmering broth, along with 1 tablespoon salt and the fish sauce.



Put the star anise, cloves, and cinnamon stick in a small skillet and toast them on top of a stove burner over medium heat. Turn the spices a couple of times until they're slightly darkened (3 to 4 minutes) and until you smell their aroma. Put the toasted spices and fennel seeds in a small square of double thick cheesecloth and tie the bundle with a long piece of kitchen twine. Add the spice bundle and the bay leaves to the broth, tying the end of the twine to the pot handle for easy retrieval.

Let the broth simmer, uncovered, skimming occasionally. After 4 hours, remove the spice bundle, onion, bay leaves and ginger from the pot and discard. Remove the oxtails from the pot and set aside. Let the broth continue to simmer. When the meat is cool enough to handle, pull the meat from the bones. Set the meat aside and return the bones to the broth. Continue simmering, uncovered, until the broth is rich and flavorful, about 1 hour. Taste the broth and add more salt or fish sauce as needed.



Soak the rice noodles in cold water for at least 20 minutes. Arrange the sliced scallions, cilantro, parsley, basil, bean sprouts, lime wedges, and chiles on a platter in separate piles.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the drained rice noodles. Give the noodles a quick stir and cook until tender but firm, about 1 minute. Rice noodles can quickly become gummy, so don't let them overcook. Drain the noodles. Warm 6 large bowls by rinsing them with hot water and divide the noodles among the bowls.




Just before serving, return the broth to a full boil. Arrange the slices of raw beef and pieces of cooked oxtail meat over the noodles in each bowl. Carefully ladle the boiling broth over all; the raw beef should be submerged in the broth. Serve immediately, along with the platters of garnish.

//Dessert First

Last Thursday my friends Wendy and Sasha took me to one of Portland's premier Asian food markets, "Fubonn," on NE 82nd Street. It's located in the heart of a mini-mall, surrounded by Asian bakeries and specialty stores. The mall itself reminded me of the Korean marketplace on Western Boulevard in Los Angeles, and the supermarket made me nostalgic for the Chinese grocery store chain 99 Ranch Market in Los Angeles county. The invitation to join my friends this excursion worked for me, as images of fried whole rock cod stuffed with ginger, bibimap and miles of rice noodles, along with other Asian delights, had been coming to me whenever I was running on the treadmill at the gym.

The overall cheapness of everything at Fubonn necessitated some self-restraint to keep me from buying more food than I could reasonable consume (such as 99 cent frozen coconut sticky rice with black beans stuffed in a 12"-long bamboo husks). And then there was the impulse to buy fresh galangal and kaffir lime leaves. These are what make Thai curry Thai curry. But I wasn't going to be making Thai curry this Sunday — shortly after laying eyes on the paper-thin strips of round eye steak in the butcher case, I decided I was going to make Pho for the first time (from fresh stock).

And then there was dessert.

The order of operations for determining this past Sunday's dinner was a little unusual: I knew what dessert I wanted to serve my guests before I settled on a main course. Serving forbidden rice pudding was one of the images that had come to when I went to the gym last Monday. When I went to Fubonn with Wendy and Sasha, I went there with the intention of acquiring the ingredients for the dessert first, and then worked backward from there to decide on the main course. Dinner's primary purpose was to ramp up to the final course. Pho fit the bill, as its aroma, taste and texture isn't particularly overwhelming — like tom yum goong can be; nor is it nearly as rich as any of the South Asian curries that spring to mind. It's simple and delicate, and wouldn't steal the spotlight from dessert. All right; enough blathering on about dinner. Onto dessert!



Summer Solstice Rice Pudding

2 1/2 cup water
1 1/4 forbidden rice
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cardamom
1 can of coconut milk
1 mango, diced into chunks
1 medium Hawaiian papaya, diced into chunks
2 gold kiwis, sliced
Optional: 2 dragon fruit



Put water and rice into a medium pot, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until all of the water is absorbed, about 45 minutes. Uncover and stir in all but a drizzle of coconut milk and sugar. Bring back to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes more.

Divide rice pudding among bowls, top with fruit, and drizzle some of the remaining coconut milk over it.



Did I mention that while at Fubonn I found whole, frozen dragon fruit from Vietnam? I DID! They're only sold fresh in Los Angeles at the Farmers' markets during the month of September — apparently up until November in Amsterdam, as I saw them for sale there when I visited last November — and afterward become incredibly difficult to find. But there they were, in the frozen fruit section of Fubonn. They were so pretty, I wasn't sure if I could bring myself to cut into their bright magenta flesh. But I did.



We often see mango and papaya paired with South Asian cuisine, so choosing the above tropical fruit was an obvious choice. But I also wanted colors that paired rather nicely with the smokey midnight purple of the pudding because yesterday (June 21st) was the longest day of the year. In Portland, the sun didn't finally go down below the horizon until well after 10! The Summer Solstice Rice Pudding was a perfect way to end the rather long day.

//Sometimes a sandwich is just a sandwich... or is it a muffin?

Last Wednesday I was already on the case to come up with this week's muffin. I was in the mood for something atypical, something so cheekily-clever, that its existence would cause my small audience to roll their eyes in response to my tendency toward bad humor. I happened to be lunching at Everett Street Bistro that day, and at the bottom of their menu I found the inspiration for the baked good you see today: the Muffinletta. Get it?

So, do you know what a "muffuletta" is? It's the name of a sandwich found most commonly served in New Orleans (if you couldn't tell, it's also served at Everett). It's not exactly the kind of sandwich you'd see Jared from Subway promoting because it's loaded with half a week's recommended maximum intake of fat and salt. Seriously, this isn't like a girlie-girl turkey on whole grain toast with cranberry chutney. This sandwich is on a whole other level of gastronomy, one that includes 2 pound bready, meaty sandwiches that have been slathered with an oily-fermented-sweet-spicy salad. To eat this sandwich is to also temporarily shun mayonnaise, as it's considered a sin to adulterate the bread with a spread that's best reserved for the likes of tuna fish and curry chicken salads. It's some seriously good eats, and it's even just as delicious in muffin form.

For more information on the history of the muffuletta, you can read its Wikipedia page.



The Muffinletta

Like its far-distant sandwich relative, the muffin version of the muffuletta is just as fatty and salty. If this isn't your thing, you might consider making, I dunno, apple bran muffins instead.

For the Batter:

1/4 lb each of the following: mortadella, capiccola ham, Italian salami, provolone and emmentaler (or mozzarella) cheeses
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups olive salad (store bought — some places carry it, — or your own, in which case read below)

Preheat oven to 400° F. Flour and butter one 6 jumbo muffin tin. Before the mixing begins, take out the assorted meats and cheeses. Here's what I thought up: Using a 2" biscuit cutter, make uniform circle cutouts in each of the cheese slices; set aside. Using a 1" biscuit cutter, make similar, but smaller uniform circle cutouts in the deli meats. The capicolla will be slightly tough to cut through, but if you work at it, it should come out all right.

Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Whisk together the buttermilk, butter and eggs. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and then gently fold in the olive salad (make no more than 15 strokes!).

Spoon a little bit of batter into the bottom of each muffin tin. Top the batter with 1 slice of provolone, then follow with 2-3 slices of each meat, followed by 1 slice of emmentaler cheese. After you've put the layer of emmentaler cheese on, spoon some more batter over the top. By making the cheese rounds slightly larger than the slices of meat, the cheese will melt together while in the oven, thus sealing in the meat, and bringing the top and bottom batter parts together to make 1 whole muffin. Pretty nifty, huh? (I gave myself a pat on the back for that one.) Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove muffins from cups while hot and cool on a rack.

For Olive Salad:

1/2 jar large pimento stuffed green olives, slightly crushed and well drained
1/2 jar Greek olives
1 jar of Mezzetta Italian Mix, which should contain pickled cauliflower, carrots, celery, cocktail onions, salad peppers, pepperoncini and spices
1/2 small jars capers, drained
The following spices to taste: celery seed, oregano, garlic and pepper

Combine all of these ingredients together by hand in a bowl and reserve until you're ready to incorporate the mixture into the muffin batter.

//The Main Course

Grilled Sausage-Stuffed Calamari

Note: you can make your own sausage (tedious), or you can buy bulk mild Italian pork sausage from your local butcher, Whole Foods, or grocery store. I have a recipe for fresh sausage, but opted to purchase a pound from the nearby Whole Foods (roughly $4.99).

1/2-1lb pork sausage
1 lb cleaned small squid bodies plus tentacles
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for drizzling
1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
Optional accompaniment: lemon wedges

Using a small spoon, loosely stuff squid with sausage, leaving 1/2-inch space at top. Seal tops using wooden toothpicks.

Prepare grill (or griddle) for direct-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (medium heat for gas, or medium temperature for stovetop). Coat stuffed squid and tentacles with oil and season with 1/2 tsp salt. Oil grill or griddle, then grill stuffed squid, turning frequently, until golden in spots and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the filling reads 150°-155° F, about 13-15 minutes. Transfer to a platter. Grill tentacles until opaque and curled, about 1 minute, then add to platter. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with parsley.

Balsamic-Marinated Fresh Radicchio

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
5 garlic cloves
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus additional for drizzling
1 lb radicchio, quartered lengthwise
1/2 cup basil leaves

Preheat broiler.

Whisk together vinegar, garlic, lemon juice, 1/2 cup oil, and 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper in a large bowl. Put radicchio in a 4-sided sheet pan and toss with remaining 2 tbsp of oil. Broil 5 to 6 minutes from heat, turning occasionally, until slightly wilted, 3 to 4 minutes. Please do keep an eye on this, especially if you're broiling in an electric oven, as the leaves will easily char if left unturned!

Add hot radicchio to marinade and gently toss to coat. Cover bowl and marinate, tossing once or twice, at least 1 hour. Transfer radicchio to serving dish, pouring some of the marinade over top. Scatter basil over radicchio.

Grilled Shrimp

1 lb medium white shrimp, de-veined, tails left intact
Salt and pepper to taste
Drizzle of honey
Olive oil for coating
6 wooden skewers

Using the same preparation for the grilled calamari, place the shrimp on the grill or griddle immediately after you've pulled the stuffed squid (the shrimp can be cooked in conjunction with the squid tentacles). Turn the shrimp once they turn bright pink on one side, and then flip them to cook until they are similarly as pink on the opposite side.