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07/10/07 - Death Cake 2007: The Best Ever

This year's death cake was special. Instead of good old fashioned Baker's chocolate, we used 100% Plantations Arriba chocolate from eChocolates.com. Hands down, this was the best death cake ever!

Of course, some of the difference may have resulted from our using Dungeness Valley Creamery milk and Dry Creek Farm eggs. If you study our recipe, you'll see that an important component of the cake is a chocolate pudding made of milk, brown sugar, egg yolk and chocolate. We used a full bar and a bit more of a Plantations bar (over 4 oz), and the chocolate flavor had a magnificent bitter note that was missing in earlier death cakes.

We also used a bar of chocolate for the fudge Cockaigne icing. It didn't dissolve all that well. There was a bit of chocolate residue that formed while we brought the batch to the soft ball stage, but the icing was creamier and richer than usual.

The death cake can be a challenge to make, but the proof is in the eating. As far as we Kalebergs are concerned, this is the best chocolate cake ever.

Keywords: food, dry creek farm, dungeness, milk, recipe, kale

11/01/06 - Dry Creek Farm: The Chicken AND The Egg!

We had not been seeing Harley at the Farmers' Market so we dropped by the farm and checked out the farmstand. We didn't see Harley, but the farmstand was there, and someone was gathering the eggs, greens and other goodies. The eggs were as good as ever, and having loaded up on these wonderful certified organic eggs, we decided it was time to take one of our Dry Creek Farm stewing hens out of the freezer and cook Moroccan.

The dish you see on the right does not look like much. Yes, that is a later of eggs and herbs on top. The black things sticking out of it are kalamatas olives, and the yellow things are bits of pickled lemon. Underneath it all lies the savory cooked hen. We use the recipe in Paula Wolfert's immortal Couscous and Other Good Food From Morocco, but in some ways ours is more farm house authentic. After all, what sensible Moroccan house wife would serve up a hen who was still laying eggs. Sure, the local emir might serve up some spring chickens, but the real home recipe was probably a version adapted for stewing hens.

The secret is simple. Just ignore Paula Wolfert's timing and cook the hen until the meat is tender, about two hours in our case. We've adapted her recipe for Djej Masquid Bil Beid:

We rub our stewing hen with garlic and salt then put it in a big pot with 1 cup chopped parsley, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 cup grated onion, a pinch of salt, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1 tsp black pepper, 1/4 cup of butter, a pinch of saffron, and 3 cinnamon sticks. We fill with water to cover the bird and then bring it to a boil and simmer it forever, maybe two hours, maybe longer. The meat should be tender, taste it.

Then, we put the chicken in a deep baking dish, tossing any loose skin, bones and the cinnamon sticks and we cook down the boiling liquid while we crack and beat a dozen eggs and add two dozen split, pitted kalamatas olives, a couple of salt cured lemons and 1/2 cup of chopped parsley. When the liquid has cooked down perhaps by a factor of two, maybe a bit more, we pour it over the chicken and then pour on the egg mixture which will comprise the upper layer.

To finish, we put the casserole covered in a 350F oven with the lid on for about 20 minutes. Then we take off the lid and let the eggs brown, raising the oven temperature if we are in a hurry.

The Dry Creek Farm Honor Stand

Chicken Meshmel also known as Djej Masquid Bil Beid

Keywords: farms, dry creek farm, food, spring, farmers' market, recipe

10/12/06 - Boarlets

We recently took advantage of Arianne's freezer sale at d'Artagnan to buy some wild boar miniroasts, as she calls them. We called them boarlets, and we bought two. We used the recipe from The D'Artagnan Cookbook, except we used Westwind Farm shallots instead of onions, and Westwind's excellent carrots. We cooked it in a Dutch oven in the oven instead of a casserole on the stove top. We left the bouquet garnis in the mix while it cooked, and we ate the vegetables.

So, how were the boarlets? Kaleberg Kitchens says that they were great, or as Variety would put it, Boarlets Boffo!

Keywords: food, westwind farm, recipe, kale

09/14/06 - Goan Spiced Shrimp With Summer Vegetables

We are making the most of the late season romano beans, and we've been craving spices as of late. In fact, we've been craving the spices of Goa, much as the Portuguese were when they took over the place over 400 years ago. So, we made up some white shrimp with Goan spices and romano beans, and we threw in some New Zealand spinach as well. For our recipe, and the results, click here.

Keywords: food, recipe

Cheese Souffle

06/19/06 - Cheese Comes to Clallam

We tried out a couple of Mount Townsend Creamery's cheeses. They've been using milk from Dungeness Valley Creamery's Jersey cows to make their cheeses, and we've finally tasted them, straight up, and in a souffle. For Kaleberg rankings and the recipe, read our special report.

Mount Townsend Creamery

Keywords: milk, dungeness, special report, mount townsend creamery, recipe, kale

Dungeness Valley Creamery

05/23/06 - Dungeness Valley Creamery In Action

Last month we mentioned that Dungeness Valley Creamery is selling their raw Jersey milk, and that it is wonderful. Apparently, the milk is selling well. Country Aire was sold out, but Good To Go, a new organic food shop up on Lauridsen Boulevard which we should discuss in greater detail, had a quart. We drank most of it, but we saved enough to make our favorite pork chop recipe from Marcella Hazan's The Classic Italian Cook Book. After all, we had just gotten our half Berkshire pig from Nash Huber so it was time to pig out.

Pork Chops Cooked in Milk

OUR VERSION OF THE RECIPE

  • 6 pork chops - use the best pork you can get
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 1/2 tsp pepper (or to taste)
  • 2 - 3 cups of milk - use the best milk you can get
  1. Heat the butter and oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Brown and cook both sides of all the pork chops, turning them now and then so they get caramelized nicely. Lower the heat if the butter starts to brown.
  2. Add salt and pepper. Pour in the milk gently, sloshing it around.
  3. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook with the lid closed for about 45 minutes. Turn the chops now and then so that they simmer in the liquid.

The chops will get incredibly tender, and the flavors will be incredibly rich. Serve with the cooking liquid, and try not to fight over the milk curds that will form.

Bottle of Raw MilkThe Milk

Keywords: milk, dungeness, food, nash huber, recipe, good to go, kale

Recipe Collection

04/29/06 - The Kaleberg Recipe Collection

We were asked about a recipe for herb jam at the Farmers' Market today, so we decided to post our entire recipe dump, that is, our list of recipes adopted and stolen from a variety of cookbooks and magazine articles. It is a rather uneven batch, but one of our favorites is Paula Wolfert's herb jam as reprinted in the Los Angeles Times.

Keywords: farmers' market, recipe, los angeles

Dungeness Valley Farm and Creamery

01/21/06 - Raw Milk at Dungeness Valley Farm and Creamery

The Dungenesss Valley Farm & Creamery in Sequim is the first dairy in Washington State licensed to sell raw cow's milk to the public. We have been following their attempt to get the necessary license. The picture on the left is from the October 2005 open house Farm Tour, and the picture on the right is of a jar of fresh, raw milk.

Raw Milk in a Jar

We drank some of the raw milk, and we were impressed. It was almost like drinking ice cream, but without the sugar rush. This stuff is extremely rich since it has all the butter, heavy cream, light cream, milk and buttermilk all mixed in. (That's the recipe you'll have to use if you want to try making some raw milk for yourself using supermarket ingredients). The milk is not homogenized, and they keep it in a tank with a little rotor to keep the fractions from settling out. Needless to say, everything is amazingly clean.

If you want to buy some of this wonderful stuff for yourself, head over to 1915 Towne Road in Sequim, but come early. They are usually closed up by 10:00. Call them at (360) 683-0716 for more information.

 

Keywords: milk, dungeness, recipe, washington state

10/16/05 - Home Cure: The Best Ham Ever

We just checked out our own home smoked Berkshire pig ham, and we were impressed. This is the second time we have bought a half a Berkshire pig from Nash Huber. The first time, we loved everything except for the ham. Unsmoked ham can be very dry, and roasting and braising just don't help very much. We managed to gret some of the ham down with sweet potatoes, Hawaiian style, but it was just not very good.

This year, we decided to brine and smoke our own ham, so we broke out our Alan Wong Hawaiian cookbook, from our luau, and found a recipe for pipikailua beef. We boiled up six quarts of water, 12 ounces of Kosher salt, three bay leaves, four tablespoons of light brown sugar, a tablespoon of black peppercorns, and a teaspooon of whole cloves. We let this cool, then chill in the refrigerator, then we dumped in the ham for 36 hours. We had a nice three inch thick slab of meat, so we figured that 24 hours might not be enough.

Then we fired up the classic Weber kettle grill with our Hasty-Bake hardwood charcoal and some of the old apple wood from a stump we had on our property. In went the ham, down came the lid. We poked at the coals every half hour or so, now and then adding a few more chunks of charcoal, but otherwise we just let the ham smoke. Sometimes the fire was a bit high. Sometimes it was a bit cool. With the lid down it averaged out just fine.

After three hours of smoking, we took out our ham. It had shrunk a bit, and it was brown and juicy looking. We cut off a bit. It was delicious. We let it sit on a plate in the refrigerator overnight to settle. This morning, it looked great and it was delicious. No, it didn't turn as pink as commercial cured hams. We didn't want to bother with curing salts. We just wanted to find a way to cook up our ham so we'd eat it, not preserve it for the winter. On the other hand, the wooly texture we associated with ham from the year before was gone. The meat was denser and moister. The flavor was rich and intense, without being too sweet or salty.

If you search the web for a ham recipe, you tend to get rather terse instructions, and they all call for curing salts. Think of this as a simple recipe for brined and smoked ham. With a little planning, you can make one yourself.

 

Keywords: food, luau, nash huber, winter, recipe

40 Lau Lau in a Pot

07/27/05 - Lau Lau for the Luau

We have wrapped up our luau and our lau lau. They may not look Hawaiian, but the little green packages ties up with string in the pot on the left are examples of the Hawaiian national dish, lau lau. What's inside? Kalua pork, pipikailua beef, and taro leaves. Curious? Want to try making your own? Check out our recipe for lau lau.

Keywords: luau, food, recipe

05/21/05 - Pea Shoots Stir Fried

The first pea shoots of the season are in at the Port Angeles Farmers Market. Johnston Farms sold out early today, and we were the guilty party. They claim that lots more are on the way. They are also expecting an early tomato crop and have fruit already ripening, so do check out their stand next Saturday.

RECIPE FOR PEA SHOOTS STIR FRIED
  • 1-2 lbs pea shoots
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
Rinse the pea shoots.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and blanche the pea shoots until they turn dark green.
Sautee the pea shoots over medium high heat in sesame oil.
Cook for a fair while, then remove from the heat and add the soy sauce.
 Pea Shoots

Keywords: food, farms, port angeles, johnston farm, recipe

04/22/05 - Recipe for Spinach, Pine Nuts and Currants

This time its spinach. We bought TWO huge bunches at the Farmers' Market and really did not want them to go to waste.

The recipe to the right is a simple way of preparing spinach, especially if you have a CostCo bag of pine nuts (aka pignolia nuts) on hand. The trick is to get the pine nuts toasted first, then add them back at the end.

We could probably make a generic greens, nuts and fruit recipe out of this, but even we have our limits.
 Recipe for Spinach, Pine Nuts and Currants

    2 lbs spinach leaves
    1/2 cup pine nuts
    2 tbsp olive oil
    1/4 cup currants (or dark raisins in a pinch)

Heat a frying pan over high heat. Dump in the pine nuts and stir until they are lightly browned. Pay attention. You don't want them to burn. When the nuts are browned, dump them into a bowl.

Put the pan back on the burner, and lower the heat to medium high. Put in the olive oil and let it warm a bit. Add the spinach. Now and then, toss it with a spoon and fork so it all cooks down. When all of the spinach is dark green and cooked add the currants. Toss again and turn off the heat. Add the pine nuts and toss yet again.

Serve.

Keywords: food, farmers' market, recipe

Green Almonds

04/13/05 - Green Almonds

We were at Kalustyan's on our most recent trip to New York City and couldn't help noticing that the green almonds are in. One reads about green almonds in Mid-Eastern cookbooks, so we bought a bunch and cracked a few open. They have a milder, greener flavor almost like a melon, rather than a nut. We've heard that they can be used in cooking, so we'll see if our supply holds out long enough for us to find a recipe.

Keywords: shopping, food, new york city, recipe

A FishSome Nuts

03/23/05 - Fish and Nuts Recipe Generator

What a productive day. Here is our fish and nuts recipe generator. It's sort of approximate, but it's an easy recipe and it works with all sorts of ingredients. Hit the button a few time and see if you get any ideas.

Keywords: fish, recipe

Stewing Hen Page

03/01/05 - Stewing Hen

We've mentioned Dry Creek Farms and there wonderful eggs on our website before. And, we've mentioned our recent acquisition of three of their hens in our column on Too Much Poultry.

You can think of this column as a follow up to our Too Much Poultry column. We were talking with Harley at the Port Angeles Farmers' Market the other day, and he mentioned that he had sold a good number of his hens. We were telling him how delicious they were, and he recounted that one of his customers had found the bird to be too tough.

"How did they cook it?", we asked.

"They roasted it.", he replied.

"Well that explains it. Old hens are stewing hens. You have to braise or stew them for hours to get them tender. We cooked one of ours in red wine and it was stupendous."

We promised to provide him with a recipe or two, and we've posted our favorite online. Check out our Stewing Hen page for a great coq au vin recipe, perfect for the chicken of a certain age.

Keywords: food, farms, birds, port angeles, wine, farmers' market, recipe

07/09/04 - Stuffed Salmon, CostCo Style

We were at the CostCo which was having their summer time fish market selling whole wild sockeye salmon among other goodies. We had to have a fish. The garrulous fishman got us a fish, and a recipe to cook it with.

He told us to filet the fish and then stuff it with chunks of peaches, chunks of walla walla sweet onions, fresh coriander and lavender. We had a five pound fish, so we used three nectarines, a whole sweet onion, several big fists full of coriander, two or three lavender flowers from our plantation, a half teaspoon of salt and a half teaspoon of pepper. We substituted nectarines for peaches since we found better nectarines at the store.

We slammed the fish shut around the stuffing and wrapped the filet in aluminum foil. When the fire was hot and ready on the grill we gave it about 15 to 20 minutes on each side. With a five pound fish, we'll recommend the higher number to get it cooked through for a total cooking time of 40 minutes.

The fish was delicious. The filling was basically a classical Caribean salsa, like one of our favorites made with mango, red onion and coriander, but this one had a true Northwest flavor, so it was perfect for salmon. Next time, we'll go for even more coriander.

Sorry about the lack of photos, but we were so hungry that we dined before getting out our camera.

Keywords: food, fish, flowers, salmon, recipe

07/08/04 - The Death Cake

The Death Cake was named for the Empire's ultimate weapon in the first Star Wars movie. If nothing else, the physical resemblance is striking, as you can see in the photograph to the right. The cake is also similar in mass to the original Death Star, which according to the movie, had a mass similar to that of a small moon.

Our Death Cake is full of devil's food cake and creamy orange icing, unlike the Death Star in the movie, which was full of evil robots and Imperial storm troopers. In fact, the Death Cake is in all ways superior to the Death Star, particularly with regards to the way it tastes. To find out more, check out our rather digressive recipe and further discussion with regards to the ultimate chocolate experience.

 The Death Cake

The Death Cake

Keywords: food, recipe

05/11/04 - Johnston Farms

Have we mentioned Johnston Farms? They are regulars at the Port Angeles Farmer's Market and have some really good vegetables. The pea shoots and salad greens are already coming in. We can hardly wait for their poblano peppers and have included a recipe for them in anticipation.

Keywords: farms, johnston farm, recipe

05/09/04 - Salmon Rollup

Here is another recipe we really like. This one is for a spicy, hearty salmon rollup made with bread crumbs and coriander seed. The sauce is sweet and sour, with honey and lime juice.

Keywords: food, salmon, recipe

05/08/04 - Pasta, Cauliflower, Parmesan & Pancetta

We made our old favorite, pasta, cauliflower, parmesan and pancetta today. Check out the pictures and the recipe. Did we mention capers? At Domaine Cliche this is famine food.

Keywords: food, recipe

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