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11/20/09 - Beef Daube

Beef daube is a wonderful, hearty winter dish. We make a version from Andre Daugin's cookbook. He ran the wonderful Hotel d'France in Auch, the heart of d'Artagnan country. Not only does beef daube, a French beef stew, taste wonderful, it is fun to make. One of the steps is flaming the browned chunks of beef in armagnac, an underappreciated strong spirit. To get a sense of how strong, check out the flames. For a better sense, click on the picture and play the movie.

Click the image for flaming action

Keywords: food

11/14/09 - If The Moon Was Cheese

Mount Townsend Creamery has a new cheese made from Dungeness Valley Creamery milk called New Moon. You can see a slice from one of the wheels in the picture on the right. We grabbed ours at Good To Go, and gave it a taste. It's a great Monterey Jack like cheese with a good tang and rich under flavor. We're looking forward to melting on something Mexican style. Thanks to our great local milk, we have another great local cheese.

The new cheese

Keywords: good to go, food, mount townsend creamery

11/06/09 - When French Women Cook We had been neglecting one of our favorite cookbooks, Madeleine Kamman's When French Women Cook: A Gastronomic Memoir . Some of this is because a lot of the dishes call for a full cup of heavy cream. For example, the pizza like dish to the right is the Alsation version of pissaladiere. That's 3 lbs of onions in the topping along with a half a stick of butter, a full cup of heavy cream, and two ounces of prunier d'agen to give it a little kick. Those are bacon bits on top. Needless to say, one slice went a long way.

Flammkuche

Noisette of Pork with Prunes
 The dish to the left is a bit lighter. It is from Touraine. We sliced up a seven pound pork loin from Heritage Foods into slices and seared them in butter. That part was simple. We soaked 30 or 40 prunes overnight in a bottle of red wine, then cooked that wine down, without the prunes, to a mere cup or two. Then, in the typical French manner, we made the sauce in the pan we used for cooking the pork so we got all the cooked meat flavor. We added a cup of heavy cream, then a cup or two of veal stock and the cup or two that was left of the prune wine. Then, we cooked that down to a cup or two. Nearly six cups of liquid were cooked down to perhaps one and a half. That's why they call it a reduction, and it was a wonderful reduction with the pork and prunes.

Keywords: food, kale

09/15/09 - Filet of Beef Lucien Tenderet

It looks like the monster from outer space, but it's just an escapee from Kaleberg Labs. That's our filet of beef lucien tenderet, beef tenderloin stuffed with morels, pistachios and dry cured black olives. It's an amazing dish. Did we mention it's wrapped in bacon? We'll admit it's pretty lurid. We got our recipe from mad scientist Alice Waters in her original Chez Panisse cookbook. We too remember the 80s.

The menace from the oven

Keywords: food, recipe, kale

08/23/09 - Aloha, Welcome to the Kaleberg Luau

Another year, another luau. Once again it was time for lau lau, ahi sushi, and Balinese chicken. This year we used Balinese fish spice instead of chicken spice, but nobody noticed. It's a long story. We also went a little crazy with the foldout pineapples, and the real one.

The Kaleberg Luau - Note the cupcake heiau in the foreground.

Welcome to the Pacific Ocean area.

Keywords: food, luau, kale

08/07/09 - Scalloped Oysters

While we haven't been in an R month for a while now, the local oysters are still in great shape. We made a big batch of scalloped oysters for a party and we were most impressed. The recipe was pretty simple, but it took a bit of baking time. This is a recipe for a big batch, you can scale it to suit.

INGREDIENTS

  • one BIG loaf of sourdough bread (or two smaller ones)
  • 4 10 ounce jars of oysters
  • a half gallon of the best milk you can get (we use milk from Dungeness Valley Creamery)
  • worcester sauce
  • a stick of butter

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Tear up the bread into crumbs and toast them in the oven on a metal tray. Keep a close watch so they don't burn.

2. Put half the oysters into the baking dish to form the bottom layer. Add a few shots of Worcester sauce.

3. Put half of the bread crumbs on top of the oysters to form another layer. Add a few more shots of Worcester sauce.

4. Put the other half of the oysters into the dish to form a second oyster layer. Add a few more shots of Worcester sauce.

 5. Spread the rest of the bread crumbs across the top for the final layer.

6. Pour in enough milk to wet everything but the topmost bread crumbs of the top layer.

7. Dot the top with chunks of the butter.

8. Bake at 350F for about an hour. Add milk if it is getting dry too soon and to keep the top bread crumbs from burning.

Keywords: food, recipe

07/03/09 - Good To Go Danish

We've been working our way through the pastries at Good To Go. This time we tried their danish, one black raspberry and one rum raisin. The results were much as we expected. They were delicious. Good To Go has a great danish pastry dough, buttery and crispy, with just the right amount of flake.

Black raspberry danish

Rum raisin danish
 They use a real good black raspberry preserve in the black raspberry danish. There's none of that synthetic, barely there flavoring, and definitely no chemical after taste. An awful lot of places take short cuts like that, and their danish are barely edible.

The rum raisin danish had lots of good cinnamon and cardamom flavor. Once again, Good To Go used real spices, and it makes a difference. While we still miss Bonny's cinnamon rolls, we miss them a lot less with these danish pastries in town.

Keywords: good to go, food

06/29/09 - Good To Go Is Now Baking

Good To Go is now baking from Wednesday to Saturday, and we can say from first hand experience that the chocolate chip cookies and croissants are delicious. They also have good looking muffins, focaccia, and a few other goodies, but we haven't tried these yet.

The chocolate chip cookies are great. They are the thick kind, and sort of gooey. They use big chocolate chips, so the chip flavor doesn't wash out, and the cookie itself has a good brown sugar and vanilla flavor, so it isn't just something to hold the chips. The balance makes for a real treat.

A chocolate chip cookie, good to go

A croissant, good to go
 The croissants are as good as the ones at The Little Oven, and have a good buttery flavor. There is a good flake, but the real treat is the rich pastry itself. Too many industrial croissants are too light, too puffy. There is no "there" there. Good To Go croissants have something inside, and it is completely delicious.

Rumor has it that the folks at Good To Go are planning a wood fired brick oven for baking bread. Right now they are still getting used to 4 AM wake up calls, to get the current baking done, but they are ambitious. We'll keep you posted, on the brick oven, and as we try other baked goods at Good To Go.

Keywords: good to go, food

06/15/09 - QuilBay Oysters

We are always warned not to eat oysters in months without an "r" in them. We have never taken this rule too seriously, so we tried out a dozen QuilBay oysters. They were spectacular. They smelled of the sea and had a sweetness and a mineral note. QuilBay also sells other seafood at the Port Angeles Farmers' Market.

Keywords: farmers' market, food, oysters


Some of their rye bread

04/25/09 - Bell Street Bakery

Bell Street Bakery opened a while back in Sequim. We haven't made a visit yet, but we did get to try a couple of their loaves, and we've heard a bit from our friends. Their whole wheat sandwich bread was excellent, with a great grainy texture and a lot of whole wheat flavor. We made some simple sardine sandwiches, and the the bread was a perfect match. Their rye bread was also good, but being familiar with New York City style deli rye, we found it a bit sweet and lacking the sour tang of a real deli rye.

Our friends, based in Sequim, report that their root vegetable bread is great, and it uses root vegetables from Nash Huber's farm. We have to get out there and see what else is available, but so far, things look promising. The whole area is undergoing a bakery renaissance. Ever since Bonny's closed we've had to bring in fresh bread from elsewhere, but now Bell Street Bakery is open, Good To Go in Port Angeles has gotten the go ahead to fire up their oven, and there may be one or two other bakeries opening in Sequim in the near future. We live in exciting times.

Keywords: good to go, nash huber, new york city, port angeles, food

04/08/09 - Sweetmeats for Passover

We recently celebrated Passover, and given that Passover is a very old holiday, we decided to have some old fashioned sweetmeats for dessert. Sweetmeats are usually confections of dried fruit and nuts, and come in all varieties. We decided to try out a few and were very pleased with the results. They are easy to make and are much healthier than most modern candies.

We made four different treats:

  • Dates stuffed with almonds
  • Prunes stuffed with hazelnuts
  • Candied orange peel
  • Figs stuffed with candied orange peel
Don't be constrained by these recipes. It's easy to try variations using whatever dried fruits and nuts you have around.

Four sweet treats
Candied Orange Peel

Peel the outer skin off of an orange or two using a vegetable peeler. You don't want the pithy part, just the orange outer layer. Boil a pot of water and dump in the peel for about five or six minutes. In a pot, dissolve about a half cup of sugar in with a quarter cup (or less) of water. Bring it to a boil. Put in the orange peel. If you have a candy thermometer, you want to cook the peel to about 230F. If you don't have a thermometer, let it cook down until the liquid is thick syrup. Lay out a sheet of wax paper, cover it with a quarter cup of sugar. Remove the orange slices from the pot and spread them out on the sugar. Put some more sugar on top. When they are cool enough, toss them around in the sugar.

TIP: Save some of the orange sugar. It can be used to coat dried fruits for making other sweetmeats.
Figs Stuffed with Candied Orange Peel

We use calimyrna figs, not the darker mission figs, but you can probably use any kind of fig you want. Cut off the hard nib of the fig. Cut a slit in the fig. Stuff in some candied orange rind and squeeze shut. Roll the fig around in some of the extra orange sugar.
Dates Stuffed with Almonds
We use deglet noor dates, but you can use any dry date for this recipe. We use regular almonds, not blanched almonds, but you might try any almonds you want. Using the almond as a knife, slit the date and stuff the almond into it. Sprinkle a few grains of sea salt or other coarse salt onto them for a nice tang. That's it.
Prunes Stuffed with Hazelnuts

Unless you have a peculiary tough type of prune and need to use a knife, just shove a hazelnut or two into each prune. Sprinkle a few grains of sea salt or other coarse salt onto them for a nice tang.

Keywords: food, recipe

04/01/09 - Unusual Potato

At one time we had hoped our web site would never become one of those sites packed with photographs of curiosities like this unusual potato we spotted at the Port Angeles Farmers' Market. Unfortunately, we have succumbed to temptation.

That sure is an unusual potato. Potato courtesy of Westwind Farms.

Keywords: farmers' market, food, science, westwind farm

03/27/09 - Gabriel's Rabbit Pates

We were recently asked to do some beta testing by the chef at the Alder Wood Bistro. Gabriel, having recently returned from Spain, had been experimenting with cooking rabbit and making pates. He had made two versions, one a rough country pate, the other more traditional. We gave them both a try. The country pate, with its heartier flavor and coarser texture was our favorite, but we had nothing against the smoother and slightly more delicate version. Which one will be showing up on the menu? We can't say. They're still both in beta.

The country pate, above, and the city pate, below

Keywords: restaurants, food, alder wood bistro

03/02/09 - Good To Go

Good To Go, on the corner of Lauridsen Boulevard and Eunice Street, is now open under new management. That's Erich below, the head baker at the now closed The Little Oven. This is great news for us. Good To Go is extremely convenient, and Erich says that they are moving ahead with installing an oven, and hopes to be baking again soon. Among other things, they are selling Dungeness Valley Creamery milk. We'll keep you posted.

The obligatory storefront shot

Erich open for business

The shelves are stocked.

Keywords: food, shopping, port angeles, good to go

02/21/09 - The Little Oven - An Update

As you may have noticed, The Little Oven on Peabody has closed. The laundromat wanted to put in a few new driers, so the oven had to go. There is good news however. The owners of The Little Oven are taking over Good To Go on Lauridsen and hope to bring back the little oven. Perhaps they'll have a bigger oven. Their note follows. We wish them luck.

Dear Friends:

Thanks to everyone for the friendship this last year. We're changing our email to goodtogogrocery -at- gmail.com . I don't know if that tells you anything about our status, but at the risk of redundancy I'll elucidate here.

The paperwork is not finalized yet, but we're going to be the new owners of the Good To Go Grocery on Lauridsen (technically 1105 S. Eunice). We are planning on keeping the grocery, expanding on the selection to include dairy items and eggs, as well as some meats, including sandwiches made with same. We'll also be doing the bakery in that location, much the same as before, and continuing with the bread oven plan. Please note, however, that these changes will not be immediately enacted. The bakery, especially, is going to take a little time as we'll have to modify the kitchen to meet city/county requirements for using an oven.

Anyway, we're looking forward to seeing everyone.

Sincerely Yours,
Erich and Liz and Julie

Keywords: food, port angeles, good to go


You can see the melted raclette in the middle. You can't see the scallions which means we should have added more.

02/03/09 - Deep Fried Tofu and Raclette We recently tried a rather improbable recipe for Fried Tofu Stuffed With Raclette Cheese. It was in Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook which we had bought, because we had enjoyed our meal at a Japanese pub in Honolulu, Izakaya Nonbei, some years back. The izakaya style of cooking tends to be informal and imaginative, but we had never seen any dishes made with cheese. Let's face it, Asia, unlike Europe, is not big on cheese. The recipe itself was easy. Just deep fry the tofu. Stuff it with scallions and raclette, then broil it until the cheese melts. The prunes were simple as well. Just dump them in a pot with red wine, a stick of cinnamon and simmer. The combination was incredible. Let's hear it for fried food and melted cheese, the glory of two continents combined in one great dish. The trick was to get a good, super-firm tofu. We went with the special 1950s stuff that was developed to take anything but a direct hit. We found that locally, but we had to get into Seattle for the raclette. It was worth it. To be honest, we've never had anything quite like this in any izakaya, but we'll be keeping our eyes, and mouths, open.

We deep fried the super-firm tofu in peanut oil. That's our Fry Baby in action. Then we cut a slit in the tofu, stuffed in the cheese and scallions and broiled them until the cheese melted.

Here are the simmered spiced prunes in red wine with cinnamon.

Keywords: food, recipe, kale

12/28/08 - Turkey With Three Sauces

Like Ebenezer Scrooge, we had roast turkey for Christmas. Mind you, we've had a bit of a head start on celebrating the holiday, so we know that turkey is a traditional Christmas favorite. This year we made three different Mexican sauces, a red sauce, a green sauce and a brown sauce. That last one was a chocolate sauce. The red sauce was an old favorite, but the green sauce was a Kaleberg Labs project, and the clear winner in an excellent field. For recipes and more, check out Turkey With Three Sauces.

Keywords: food, christmas, kale

12/03/08 - Cardamom Cookies

We love cardamom. It is an underused spice, possibly because it can be tricky to spell. Good luck trying to find cardomam on Google. Our favorite use for this spice is in cardamom cookies, and we seem to have lost our old recipe, so we are using a relatively new one from Gourmet. If you want, you can go to Epicurious and look the recipe up yourself, but the one here has been tested at Kaleberg Kitchens, so we know it works.

Bake a batch of these cookies, with or without cookie molds. You might even want to make them a bit thick. These are wonderful shortbread cookies. Shortbread cookies are what Lorna Doones are supposed to be but aren't. Your whole house will be scented with butter and cardamom, and if you like the baking scent of cinnamon, you will be ecstatic with the scent of cardamom. They are perfect for Christmas baking which is when all these old fashioned spices come out of the back of the cupboard and into the oven where they belong.

They don't look like much, but they are delicious.

An open cardamom pod
 Orange Cardamom Cookies (basically the recipe from Gourmet 12/07)
  • 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tbsp heavy cream
  • 2 tbsp orange zest (or more)
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
Smoosh the butter until it is soft and workable. Add the sugar and smoosh it to the butter. Add the egg yolk and the heavy cream and work them into the butter which will get softer. Add the orange zest, cardamom and salt and continue smooshing. Finally, add the flour and work into a slightly crumbly dough.

Divide the dough into four parts and press them into flat rectangles. Let them rest in the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes or so. (We actually skip this step which is why our cookies aren't much to look at, but they taste just as good as better rested cookies.) Roll the cookie dough out to about 1/8 inch (or as much as 1/4 inch) on a floured work surface. If you have a speculatius cookie mold, you can use this, otherwise just cut the cookies into 2 inch by 3 inch squares and put them on a baking sheet. Bake for about 8-10 minutes at 350F. (We use a convection oven and special baking sheets, so we get quicker results.) Bake until the edges are brown.

Keywords: food, recipe, kale

10/10/08 - Duck Confit

The autumn is upon is. The first duck confit of the year has been preserved Chez Kaleberg. It is a bit of a production. If you want to make your own version, you can try following our recipe which derives from Paula Wolfert's.

There it is, in all its glory.

Keywords: autumn, food, recipe, kale

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