An Honor, a Favor, and a Freebie (Win a Digital Kitchen Scale)

[CSN stores, which offers everything from cookware to kids beds has offered a nice kitchen scale to our readers; read through to the end to find out more.]

I woke up yesterday to find out that Herbivoracious had been nominated by Saveur Magazine as one of six finalists in the Best Special Interest Blog category of their Best Food Blog Awards. I'm totally thrilled by that recognition, because I think Saveur presents some of the most interesting and authentic food writing and recipes out there, not to mention amazing photography.

It would mean a lot to me if all of you fine folks that are reading this would pop over to Saveur and vote. It does require registration but that only takes a moment. And double bonus points if you would spread the word to your friends by sharing this page - you'll see links at the bottom of the post. Thank you so much for your support!

Now on to the freebie. By now I think a lot of people have heard that measuring by weight instead of volume is a much more reliable way to cook, and especially to bake. Ingredients like flour can vary wildly by volume, but using weight will give you consistent results. But not everyone has taken the leap to actually buying a scale. So when Cookware.com offered to give away this nifty digital kitchen scale to one of my readers, I couldn't say no.

I'll keep the contest simple: just go sign up for the Herbivoracious fan page on Facebook by this Sunday (3/7/2010) and you are automatically entered. Monday morning I'll pick one member of the group at random and arrange to have the scale sent to them. [Note: The contest is over, and the winner was Crystal Clark. Thanks everybody!]

Thanks again! Tommorow we'll get back to the recipes with some killer vegetarian potstickers (gyoza).

Herbivoracious Dinner #2

I just finished my second Herbivoracious Dinner Party. I started these as a way to "stay in the game" of professional cooking. The first one was all the way back in April of 2008, and then I took a long hiatus while we had our second child. This time, Cafe Flora, where I previously interned, graciously agreed to host, which was fantastic because it gave me access to a restaurant kitchen and waitstaff, so I could focus on the food and not the thousand other details that go into this sort of event. Plus I got to work with all of my old friends. Chef Janine even offered to come in and help me plate, which was incredible - she's so fast and cool under pressure, it gave me a big boost in confidence.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will see that I've actuallly been working on the dishes for this dinner off and on for awhile now. [Click on the menu for a readable size]. I chose a Spanish menu because I love their traditional flavors and because Spain has been the source of so much innovative cuisine. Although I have a lot of interest in modern techniques, it would be too ambitious for me to prep a 7 course meal in that style for 15 people by myself in a limited amount of time. So I opted for a hybrid of traditional-style dishes with some modern twists that I felt confident I could execute.

We had a really cool group of diners. Some were close friends and family, and the other half from the wider community, including the proprietors of two other blogs: Tiger Chow and Dawn and Eric of Wright Eats. Cafe Flora set up a beautiful long communal table with white linen and candelight, and every time I popped out of the kitchen I could sense that the group was getting to know each other and having a great time. Which in the end is the point, right?

By the way, if you are interested in coming to future dinners, just drop me a note at herbivoracious@gmail.com, and I'll be in touch when they are scheduled.

We started with boyikos, waiting on platters for the guests as they arrived and got settled with a drink. Then came an amuse of a flash-grilled grapefruit segment with olive oil, Maldon salt, piment d'espellete, chives, and microgreens, followed by a salad of parsley, olives and blood orange in a sherry vinaigrette (similar to this version with persimmon).

The next course was the savory churro and morel "hot chocolate" I wrote about a few weeks back. That was the dish I was probably most proud of conceptually, but I had a slight execution problem, ending up with too much of the spice mixture on the churros. The intermezzo was an apple-celery sorbet, which underwent the most fine-tuning, including some great last-minute advice from Flora's wonderful pastry chef, Marie.

The entree was a slightly refined version of these fideos (toasted noodles) in a saffron-garlic cream sauce. Instead of basic cauliflower and broccoli, I hit up the farmer's market and ended up with German Butterball potatoes from Olson Farms, red carrots from Full CIrcle Farm, baby turnips from Whistling Train Farm, and tiny Brussel sprouts from Stoney Plains Farm. The purple and orange cauliflower had a few more petro-miles on it. Instead of cooking them off in the saffron cream, I blanched and chilled them each individually to control the texture and color, and each diner got one of each vegetable. (Photos of the fideos and the dessert courtesy of Wright Eats - thanks guys!).

Finally, the dessert was a trio of chocolates, using Aki & Alex's pectin-set "sliced chocolate" technique, which results in a texture somewhat like a chocolate pudding just thick enough to stand up by itself, and has terrific flavor release. From left to right was a 71% Callebaut with Maldon salt and cajeta, milk chocolate with strawberry croquant and sunflower "soil" (made with tapioca maltodextrin), and 58% Guittard infused with piment d'espellete and cinammon, with Meyer lemon zest and a roasted Comice pear.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me with this project, whether it was taste-testing, offering sage advice, hosting or coming out to dine! I really appreciate it, and I'm looking forward to doing it again.

 

Savory Churros and Morel "Hot Chocolate" - Recipe plus an Invite To Dinner

This is one of the dishes I'm working on for my next "underground" dinner party. Cafe Flora (where I previously interned) has graciously agreed to host this time. The menu I'm working on will be Spanish, with both traditional and modern elements. (If you are interested in attending the dinner on Tue. 1/27, there might be a few spots left; drop me an email at herbivoracious@gmail.com, let me know how many in your party, and I'll be in touch).

Churros and thick hot chocolate are popular throughout Spain and much of Latin America, often as a breakfast treat or street food. They can be made thick or thin, straight or knotted, and from a potato based dough or wheat flour, but they are always extruded and fried like a doughnut.

Churro dough is similar in conception to a choux paste - you make a hot mixture of flour, butter and water, and then beat eggs into it. I used this recipe from Michelle Bernstein, which worked terrific. Since I had a savory application in mind, I rolled them in smoked paprika (pimenton dulce), cinammon, and salt instead of cinnamon and sugar.

I've had dried morels in my pantry for a bit, and my friend Dan has been challenging me to invent "s'morels" - s'mores somehow involving savory marshmallows and morel mushrooms. The snag on that has been a good vegetarian marshmallow recipe, but I still like the concept. Anyhow, that thought must have put me in the mindset to come up with this idea, where the morels make a soup for dipping the savory churros.

I still used some cocoa powder in the soup as well. The combination is pleasing. As in a mole, chocolate used without sugar provides a subtle, earthy, slightly bitter note that marries easily with the mushrooms.

For the final dish, I plan to froth the soup, serve it in a demitasse and use a star-shaped tip for the churros. Here is the recipe for the soup, which would also make a fine first course without the churros. It is rich, so plan on only about 1/2 cup per person.

Morel "Hot Chocolate" Soup
Serves 4 as a tiny appetizer, preferably with churros rolled in pimenton and cinnamon
Vegetarian and gluten-free; not vegan

• 1.5 cups heavy cream
• 0.6 oz. dried morel mushrooms
• 2 teaspoons high quality cocoa powder (not Hershey's please); I used Lake Champlain Chocolate
• 1/2 cup half & half
• sea salt

1. Bring the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Add the morels, and simmer on lowest possible heat for 10 minutes.
2. Turn off heat and allow to rest for 30 more minutes.
3. Add the cocoa powder, half & half, and a couple pinches of salt.
4. Puree very thoroughly in a blender, then strain through a fine mesh sieve.
5. Taste and adjust the salt.
6. To serve, reheat and then carefully froth with a handheld blender.