Butternut Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter & Sage Sauce

Recipe coming soon!

Orange-Spice Banana Bread

This version of Banana Bread will blow you away! By adding just enough orange zest, this bread gets the perfect kick - citrus, light and still perfectly sweet. I've never been a huge fan of walnuts in banana bread, but you can stir in 3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts at the very end if you like. Serve warm or at room temperature for the perfect companion to afternoon coffee or tea.


Makes one 9-inch loaf

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 Tablespoons zest from one orange

• 3 very ripe, soft, darkly speckled large bananas, mashed, about 1 1/2 cups
• 1/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out excess.
2. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and orange zest in a large bowl.
3. Mix the mashed bananas, sour cream, eggs, butter, and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a medium bowl. Lightly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined and the batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
4. Bake until th eloaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then cool on a wire rack. Can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Meat Pies aka Forfar Bridies

The dough is flaky and delicate, but strong enough to be eaten straight from the hand - no need for plates or forks. Makes 8 pies. There should be plenty of dough to cut out 8 pies without having to reroll any dough scraps. If you want to make smaller pies, just cut out smaller circles of dough and use less filling.


Pastry

• 3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 t regular table salt
• 12 Tablespoons (1.5 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes
• 1 cup ice water

Meat Filling

• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 lb (90% lean) ground beef (or any mixture of beef, sausage, veal, etc)
• 1 onion, minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves, or 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 Tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup dark beer
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 egg, beaten

1. FOR THE PASTRY: Process flour, sugar, and salt together in the food processor. Scatter butter pieces over the flour mixture and pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Transfer mixture to large mixing bowl. Working with 1/4 cup of water at a time, sprinkle the water over flour mixture and stir, pressing mixture against sides of bowl to form a dough. Add enough water that no small bits of flour remain. Dough should be moist enough to form a ball, but not sticky. Divide dough into 2 pieces, flatten each piece into a 6-inch disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
2. FOR THE FILLING: Melt butter in a 12-inch skillet over med-high heat. Add beef, onion, garlic, and thyme, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until the meat is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mustard, nutmeg, and flour and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in beer and simmer 1 minute. Stir in cream and simmer until thickened, about 1 minute. Off the heat, stir in Worcestershire sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. ASSEMBLY: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll dough to 1/4" thickness. Using a bowl to trace, cut dough into 8-inch circles. Fill dough circles with 1/4-1/2 cup of filling. Fold over dough and seal with water. Pinch edges to crimp dough closed. Brush each with beaten egg. Place on non-stick or parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 25-30 minutes or until meat pies are golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.
   

Spinach Lasagna

From "The New Best Recipe" America's Test Kitchen....aka "The Bible" in my house.

Serves 6-8
This dish has a few extra steps, but don't be intimidated. It's delicious and worth the effort! You have to soak the no-boil noodles in this recipe because the lasagna does not bake long in order to keep the spinach fresh. If Italian fontina isn't available, substitute whole-milk mozzarella.

Spinach

• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 2 (10 oz) bags pre-washed spinach

Bechamel

• 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 5 large shallots, minced (about 1 cup)
• 4 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 ounce grated Parmesan cheese (1/2 cup)

Cheeses and Pasta

• 8 ounces whole-milk cottage cheese
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 no-boil lasagna noodles (Barilla is the best)
• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (1 cup)
• 8 ounces Italian fontina cheese, shredded (2 cups)

1. FOR THE SPINACH: Fill a large bowl with ice water. Bring water to rolling boil in a large stockpot over high heat; add spinach and salt, stirring until spinach is just wilted, about 5 seconds. Using a strainer transfer spinach to the ice water for 1 minute. Drain spinach and lay on clean kitchen towel. Wrap the towel tightly around the spinach to form a ball and wring until dry. Chop the spinach and set aside.
2. FOR THE BECHAMEL: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until foaming; add the shallots and garlick, stirring frequently, until shallots are translucent, about 4 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Whisk in the bay leaves, nutmeg, salt, and pepper; reduce the heat to low and simmer 10 minutes, whisking occasionally. Whisk in the Parmesan and discard the bay leaves. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. FOR THE CHEESES AND PASTA: Blend the cottage cheese, egg, and salt in a food processor or blender until very smooth. Set aside. Place the noodles in a 13x9 broiler-safe baking dish and cover with very hot tap water; let soak for 5 minutes, shaking the disk to keep noodles from sticking. Remove the noodles and place in a single layer on a clean kitchen towel. Wipe the baking dish dry and coat it with butter or cooking spray.
4. FOR THE ASSEMBLY: Prepare layers in this order:

• Spread 1/2 cup bechamel sauce in empty dish...(then stir the chopped spinach into the remaining bechamel, mixing well to break up clumps of spinach)
• Lay down 3 noodles
• Spread 1 cup of the spinach mixture over noodles
• Sprinkle with 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• Lay down 3 noodles
• Spread 1 cup of spinach mixture
• Sprinkle with fontina
• Lay down 3 noodles
• Spread 1 cup of spinach mixture
• Pour cottage cheese mixture over
• Lay down 3 noodles
• Spread remaining spinach mixture
• Sprinkle remaining fontina over top
  

Lightly spray a sheet of foil and cover dish. Bake until bubbling, about 20 minutes. Remove lasagna and adjust rack to broil position. Broil lasagna until cheese is spotty brown, 3-4 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Monthly Dinner at Belltown's Txori

Every first Monday of the month Belltown's Txori Bar hosts a dinner with the owner Joseba Jimenez de Jimenez. This month I went to check it out. Every good meal begins with a drink. I had a lovely spritzer with Elderflower liquor. My date, however, decided that his evening would start with Mr. Daniels.






A small dinner for 12 in the back of the bar.



This was a lovely little stuffed quail.


Dessert was a special New Years sweet bread with a coin baked into the dough. Whoever finds the coin in their piece will have good fortune for the entire year. Lucky for me I found the foil-wrapped coin while breaking the bread into two, rather than biting down into a chunk of foil (my fillings thanked me later).

Fruit Tart with Rosemary Syrup

Yesterday my friends and I were craving something with berries, something sweet, something that would remind us of sitting outside on a warm, August night. Actually, we were desperate for anything to take our minds off this dreary weather, even for just a second. The strawberries might have been expensive and a little under ripe and the blueberries were probably grown in some enormous temperature-controlled warehouse, but this tart was just what we needed.
And if it was August and my lavender plant was visible - it had been sitting under mounds of snow and now inches of rain - I would have substituted that in the syrup. But Rosemary is the heartiest herb of them all. Refusing to die. Refusing to wilt. Refusing to even be bothered that it's January and all its surrounding buddy herbs are long gone. So go ahead! Slather on as much Rosemary Syrup as possible (trust me, you'll be tempted to drink it from the pan!) and let it shine, shine, shine.

Tart Dough

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Rosemary Syrup

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup loosely packed fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  

One recipe of pastry cream

1. Whisk the yolk, cream and vanilla in a small bowl; set aside. Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the food processor and process to combine. Scatter the butter over the flour mixture; process to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles course meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses. With the machine running, add the egg mixture and process until the dough just comes together, about 12 seconds. Turn the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and press into a 6-inch disk. Refrigerate at least 1 hr or up to 2 days.
2. Roll out dough out, about 1/4 inch thick; fit dough into 14x4-inch rectangle tart pan with removable bottom, pressing into corners. Using a rolling pin, trim dough flush with top edge of pan. Prick bottom of dough all over with a fork to prevent tart from puffing up. Chill tart shell until firm, about 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake tart shell until edges are golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.
4. In a small saucepan, combine sugar with 1/4 cup water, rosemary and lemon juice. Bring mixure to a boil, then turn off heat. Set aside to steep, covered, for 20 minutes. Strain syrup into a bowl and set aside.
5. When ready to serve, fill cooled tart shell with pastry cream, arrange fruit on top and brush with rosemary syrup.
   

Pear Tart with Pecan Filling

This Pear Tart is a simple and elegant dessert. I modified the recipe to include The New Best Recipe's Sweet Pastry Dough for Tarts. The secret to flaky, buttery crust is to keep everything cold; add the butter when it's cold, completely chill the dough before rolling and even after fitting it into the tart pan. When everything is kept cold, it bakes well and has the most buttery texture.

Sweet Pastry Tart Dough ("The Best Recipe" America's Test Kitchen)

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  

Pecan Filling and Pear Tart

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
• 1 cup pecans
  
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut up
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1/2 cup apricot jam
• 8 large canned pear halves, well drained, patted dry, and thinly sliced lengthwise

1. Whisk the yolk, cream and vanilla in a small bowl; set aside. Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the food processor and process to combine. Scatter the butter over the flour mixture; process to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles course meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses.

With the machine running, add the egg mixture and process until the dough just comes together, about 12 seconds. Turn the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and press into a 6-inch disk. Refrigerate at least 1 hr or up to 2 days.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to a 12-inch round. Fit dough into a 9-inch removable bottom tart pan lifting into and pressing up sides. Refrigerate while you prepare pecan cream.

3. In a food processor, pulse pecans and sugar until finely ground. Add butter, egg, flour, salt, and extract and process until well combined.

4. Spread 1/4 cup jam over bottom of tart shell. Spread almond filling over; chill 15 minutes. Arrange pear slices on top, fanning them out. Place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and pecan cream is puffed and set. Transfer to a wire rack and cool in the pan. Remove from pan. Melt remaining jam and brush over tart. Cool before serving.