Hey Everyone, I’m teaching a Moroccan cooking class at Chefshop.com on April 2 and 3, 2014.6:30-8:30 pm.
I’ll be demonstrating exotic yet simple dishes you can make at home including olives with harissa, chicken tagine with preserved lemons and olives, quinoa “couscous”, harissa & chickpea soup, Moroccan coconut “cake”. Only a maybe on the cake, we’ll see.
Should be fun and of course I’ll be spreading the gospel of great ingredients, fine techniques, and recipes that are sure fire!
graffiti covered utility boxes outside Gastropub
Holy Cow do I love food, I think about it night and day. Not in that addicted way but in that, There is so much to try, taste, recreate with our own personal twist. Like the other night I went to Gastropub here in Seattle, over on 1st St by the Spokane overpass. We had tried to go there the week before but we had forgotten the name. I was SURE that is was the place across the street- Aston Manor, a Speakeasy wannabe. Odd concept that Speakeasy thing. Besides the fact that they didn’t really give us the time of day, it was happy hour and it cost us 55$ for 2 apps and 2 drinks, not so happy. ANYWAY! We did a little bit more investigation and finally got to the right restaurant, as mentioned before, Gastropub. Small independent place. 3 portable burners and a burner, a tiny air filter, a convection oven, a small refer table, dish area and beer taps in a 10×10 space. it was inspirational. We set at the bar that wrapped the “kitchen” cuz we love to watch the action! As a chef what other choice do I/we have? Ordered an interesting sounding dish of roasted spring onions, although they were more like ramps, with a poached egg and a drizzle of olive oil. It came with the roasted onions roots still intacke, in a nest shape and the perfectly poach egg, poached in beer at that, in the center. The onions were tough, impossible to eat, in fact I gave up. Even a steak knife wouldn’t get through them! We asked the cook what the deal was and he did not seam to know. Maybe it’s still a dish that’s evolving? Another customer affirmed that we were not crazy (at least on the particular question), that is was indeed very hard to eat but tasty. If I made that dish again I would slice up the onions at a long angle, toss with sea salt and pepper, rice bran oil, roast for 5-6 minutes at 425f, then form them into a nest on the plates, poached egg in the middle, drizzle EVOO in top and a red wine vinegar reduction. Simple and delish! I could on and on about the meals, but really it wasn’t that great. I was a classic should have been better but wasn’t. I think we’ll try it again just to be sure.
What’s the best remake of dish that you’ve ever done?
I’ll just start this off with a BANG! In a word DELISH. I don’t usually go to Italian restaurants because I haven’t been to too many that make food as good as I can cook it. This is one of the best I have been to in a VERY long time. Ethan Stowell’s beautiful and tasty restaurant gave us most everything we could have wanted. It’s restaurant week in Seattle this week and my friend Carol and one of my partners Jen went to have 3 courses for 28$ not including tip, taxes. I love going with 3 because most of the time the places give us 3 choices and its always fun to say “We’ll have one of everything!” I’m rollin GF these days so I’m always a little shy about Italian places for the obvious reasons. I went slightly off that diet with the fried oysters- a little over fried but still very tasty and a plum upside down cake with coconut ice cream- just plain tasty. The Anchovy Bigoli pasta was full of anchovy flavor without being fishy (I know kinda an oxymoron but…), lots of Italian parsley, garlic, mint and pangrattato (aka- toasted breadcrumbs). I felt like I was at home making dinner.
Other apps were, We started with 3 raw oysters served in a small oval AllClad baking dish- Blue Pool oyster with cucumber-coriander ice, Sea Cow oyster with chili vinegar and chives, and Hama Hama oyster with scallion mignonette with a lovely glass of Prosecco, Escolar with Persian cucumber, chili, avocado and lime, the fried oysters with napa cabbage, goat horn chili, chili aioli, and a beet salad with pears, walnuts and a creamy dressing. Entrees were the Bigoli pasta- it’s a long pasta like macaroni but no hole, Salmon with braised leeks, navel orange and herb jam, and Rockfish with fennel, pepperonata, controne beans (a little firm for me but perfect for the Italians). dessert was plum upside down cake with coconut ice cream, corn panna cotta with whipped cream and berries- the panna cotta was WAY too firm, flavor was good though, and last but not least pear sherbet with rosemary shortbread cookie- we are ready for the rosemary shortbread cookie craze to be OVER! Stop by the next time you are on Capitol Hill in Seattle and have your mind expanded. Thanks to all the staff and of course the chef, producers, truck drivers, farmers and everyone else involved. Much love!