A Second Valentine's

For a second Valentine’s dinner, Rob took me to Cascina Spinasse. An Italian trattoria specializing in food from the Piedmont region of Italy, located on 14th on Seattle’s Capitol Hill with an unassuming storefront.

We were 45 minutes early for our 6:30 reservation but thought we’d go in anyway and sure enough we were the first people for the evening. The décor is simple an unassuming - one marble four-top with the rest of the dining area at communal tables. We however opted to sit at the butcher block bar so that we could peer into the kitchen. Much like a voyeur, I like to watch the kitchen in action especially as they’re readying for the rush to come.

The menu outlined in courses, Rob and I had a difficult time choosing what to eat for what course. Our server assisted with suggestions on how to plan our meal. To get us started, we were served crostini spread with whipped lardo and topped with what tasted to be a julienne of dry-cured olives.

First, the antipasti - Prosciutto di Parma – Pio Tosoni prosciutto with oil poached baby artichokes. Tender, salty goodness. What can I say, cured pigs are tasty. We selected two primi - Caramelle di ricotta – caramelle is a pasta that is shaped like a piece of fresh caramel candy with ricotta as the candy and the pasta wrapped around it and twisted like the waxed paper wrapper, topped with a sage leaf and toasted walnut oil; the other was a ravioli made from the thinnest sheet of pasta filled with hedgehog mushrooms served in truffle butter, truly decadent. Secondi - Stracotto di coniglio –falling off the bone goodness. I’m not sure how they were even able to remove it from the pan! The rabbit was moist and succulent after being braised in red wine with pancetta, prunes and these little olives that added a great deal of rich flavor but not salt. To go along with the rabbit, we ordered roasted parsnips as the contorni. These were a smart addition as they helped cut some of the richness of the rabbit.

Even with half orders of the antipasti and primi, I’m stuffed and our server brings out the dolci menu, “there’s always room for dessert” he says slyly and walks away. We look; we order; we eat. A semi-freddo Gianduja – a large oblong serving of chocolate-hazelnut ice cream served with slightly whipped cream and chunks of thin chocolate hazelnut bark. Now overly full, we rolled down the street to home to collapse in a food coma.  A romantic night indeed.

She's Saucy

On a quest to contiually improve my cooking skills I took a sauce class with my friend Sandy. This class was an offering from David LeClaire’s Uncorked Seattle and taught by Chef Kathy Entrop of Kathy’s Kapers. Taking a cooking class, you always hope to learn something and the first thing we learned was a French phrase "mis en place" meaning everything (prepped and) in place. This is important as timing can be critical and if you don't have mis en place, then you could miss the timing of your sauce and it would fail.

We would be making 8 different sauces with recipes ranging from a time consuming seafood stock based sauce (great for a bisque base) to very simple butter sauces. We split up into teams to prep our ingredients. Each team was to prep and cook their sauce in front of the group. Sandy and I chose to make the Rosemary Balsamic Butter sauce. A simple sauce with few ingredients but definitely packs a punch. Plus, we went next to last so that meant lots of wine tasting along the way while everyone else was toiling over their sauces.

Rosemary Balsamic Butter Sauce
• 8 tablespoons cold butter, cut into tablespoon chunks, reserve two of these in the fridge for finishing the sauce.
• ½ cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 large shallot
• 2 large sprigs of fresh rosemary – kept whole
• Salt and pepper to taste
In a sauce pan over medium heat, cook the shallots in 6 tablespoons of butter until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add in vinegar and rosemary, whisking to combine and simmer until liquid is reduced to about ½ a cup, about 6 minutes, whisking as needed to keep the balsamic and butter combined. Remove from heat (sauce may separate as it cools), remove rosemary and whisk in remaining 2 tablespoons of chilled butter until the sauce is smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Now, as you read the recipe, you may wonder – salted or unsalted butter? I always thought sauces started with unsalted butter, however, Chef Kathy said she always uses salted butter. You also want to be sure your butter stays cold until you need it. No melty stuff here – no sir, it is important to keep that butter chilled so that the sauce keeps a good texture and the fat and milk solids don’t separate or you’ll get an icky mess, which of course can be resurrected by adding more butter. :)

Personally, I think this sauce would go well with a red meat. Beef, lamb, venison or even buffalo. I tried it over a pork tenderloin because I couldn’t find a nice beef tenderloin that hadn’t already been cut into steaks when I went to buy groceries. While it tasted good, the strong balsamic flavor overpowered the pork and its dark color was a bit off-putting against the white of the pork. Next time I'll try with a white balsamic.

I also learned about “beurre marnie” – little wonderballs of equal parts room temperature butter and flour rubbed together into a ball and are used to thicken sauces instead of a slurry or egg yolk. Chef Kathy recommends one tablespoon of each for a pan sauce. These little lovelies you can make ahead and chill in the fridge until you need them. Can’t wait to use ‘em because everything is better with butter!

Bruddah Bruce's Maui Chicken Wings

Food, family, friends and fun. The four F's. Thanks to @lornayee tweet the other day about soy sauce chicken wings, I got a craving for my brother Bruce's Maui chicken wings. And you know you have to eat what you're craving or else you'll be eating everything under the sun until it is satisfied. I also think it is best to share that craving to help it go away - like when you get a song stuck in your head and it won't go away until you tell someone else? No better time to share my craving than on Superbowl Sunday - add a fifth F, football.

I was raised as an only child here in Seattle, a product of my father's second marriage. His first produced 6 boys who all grew up in Hawai'i, one of which is Bruce whom we thank for sharing his recipe below.

Bruddah Bruce's Maui Chicken

2 cups white sugar

3 cups water

4 cups soy sauce

5 cloves of garlic, smashed

1 inch of ginger, smashed

3 pounds of chicken thighs or drumsticks (or about 5 pounds of chicken wings)

I like to add some crushed chili peppers and chili oil to add a little heat. I suggest using an Asian chili oil rather than a hot sauce like Tabasco because you want pure heat without the vinegar.

Mix together all ingredients until sugar is dissolved. Prepare chicken by rinsing and removing any excess fatty pieces and breaking down the chicken wings at the joints if necessary. In a large pot or in plastic bags, marinate the chicken overnight in the refrigerator, gently turning every 4-6 hours to ensure all pieces are evenly marinated. If you can't marinate overnight, then for at least 8 hours and reduce the water by one cup. For wings, marinate at least 6 hours, until the raw chicken takes on a dark brown color.

Remove the chicken around an hour or so before you're ready to start cooking. This is just to prevent a nearly freezing chicken hitting hot fire. That way the outside doesn't get dry while you're trying to make sure the parts closest to the bone get cooked thoroughly. Use your favorite method for cooking...on the grill, broiling in the oven, baking or even stovetop boiling in the marinade with some extra water. Apply heat until the chicken is cooked all the way through and enjoy - chopstix not required!

Having these wings brings back the memory of the first time I ate these at Bruce's house on Maui. A warm Hawai'ian breeze, beautiful sunset and my niece Kristeena schooling Rob on the backyard Astroturf putting green. For Rob's sake, I should mention that Kristeena is currently the 2009 HSJGA champ for 9-10 year old girls. She beats the 11-12 year old boys too but they can't say that.

Aloha and mahalo Bruddah Bruce!

White Boy Food

Oooh, can she say that? Yup. It isn't anything but a loose slang translation of the infamous El Guero Canelo in Tucson, home of the Sonoran Dog. (Guero canelo is more commonly translated as "cinnamon blonde", the haircolor of the its founder, but that isn't nearly as catchy.) Now, I most certainly am not the first one to become intrigued by this pork on pork porn. I first saw this place on a Travel Channel's Man vs. Food featuring the food of Tucson and knew this was a must try on my next visit. A bus, to a train, to a plane and I'm off to spend some quality time with Mom.

Heading to the original location, we drove 40 minutes on the I-10 to South Tucson, made a few turns and we found ourselves on S 12th Street in front of El Guero Canelo - basically two taco trucks and a grill all held together by a corrugated metal covered seating area. The parking lot was packed for 4:00 in the afternoon. Oh, that's right - did I mention the Travel Channel happened to be filming another segment on the Sonoran Dog for a yet TBD show? They had had so much positive response to the same show that I saw, they felt the need to come back for more footage. Who am I to argue with that?

Enough story and get to the good stuff right? OK, let me set it up for you: One standard hotdog, wrap it in bacon and grill. Insert the into a super soft, slightly sweet, buttery bun "envelope". Now top with frijoles, chopped fresh tomatoes and onions. Add a line of mustard and jalepeno sauce then criss-cross with garlic mayonnaise. I'm not sure how to describe it other than being a processed pork food treat and damn tasty.

Like many people, I have an "it" list of fast food I must have while visiting a particular city. These include Portillo's in Chicago, In-N-Out in LA and Chick-Fil-A in Atlanta. Luckily, I can find the last two and now El Guero in Tucson. Guess I need to visit Mom a bit more often.