Pip's Plate

The birthday party was a major success. It was small, mellow and just all around a great time. The food was fantastic and the cake was a hit!

And above all, 4 people tried Spam last night for the first time. And they liked it! Spam Musubis were the hit of the party.

Spam Musubi

We also have yummy chicken katsu rolled with spinach and Bull-Dog sauce. As well as beef bulgogi rolled with cucumber. Both were so delicious that Keldon had to make another round for people to snack on.

Katsu, Spam Musubi, and Bulgogi

The green salad with frisee and zucchini was overwhelmingly good. As were the cucumbers and green onions. I was pretty skeptical of the green onions, but I would definitely make them again.

And…. for the cake! For Keldon’s birthday this year, I made him a ukulele cake! (Please note: if you are clutzy like me, do not – I repeat DO NOT – attempt to use black food coloring.)

Keldon with his three ukuleles

the ukulele cake

Recipes coming soon for everything.

So I bought my first house on June 30. Yay! It’s this really cute little 1 1/2 story house built in 1914 in south Minneapolis. It’s on a movie set street with great neighbors.

For our celebratory first cooked meal in the house we had tacos! My favorite meal. I’m not sure if you know this, but if I could only have one food for the rest of my life, I would choose tacos. I don’t even know how many taco recipe I’ve created, but you can see them all here.

We made a turkey version of the Smoky Buffalo Tacos. We served them up with tortillas, cheese, lettuce, and tomato fried rice. Served with a great glass of Russian River viognnier and we were all set.

No, this cake is not actually made with Spam (that would just be too much fun, though). BUT! the cake does sort of look like Spam on the inside – all mottled and pink to replicate the mystery meat that Spam is.

I made this cake a year ago for Keldon’s surprise birthday. Since he’s from Hawaii and loves Spam, what better way to shower him with birthday surprises than a Spam cake?

Let’s not be too judgmental when taking my decorating skills into account here. It’s the idea that counts, right? Right. I had some major challenges with the frosting.

In any case, this was a basic white cake blended with some red food coloring (although not blended all they way to give it the distinctive Spam look) with white frosting blended with red, yellow, and blue food colorings.

Me and two friends threw a baby shower last weekend for our good friend Jill. It’s her first baby, and what do you know, she’s having a girl! She’s due on 7/19/2009 so we should be seeing that little tyke running around soon.

We decided to make a day of the event – which for anyone who knows us, is no surprise. First off, lunch at the house. Next up, mini golfing! Last, back to the house for pie, coffee and gifts.

The menu was outstanding: we made all of Jill’s favorite foods…

First Course: Cold Appetizers

Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Watermelon, Feta and Mint Salad

Second Course: Warm Bites

Grilled Turkey, Bacon, Blue Cheese Sandwiches

Lemony Grilled Asparagus with Goat Cheese

Served with Gloria Ferrer rose champagne toast and Virginique (a nonalcoholic “mocktail”)

Followed up by a little sweet snack of Coconut Macaroons

Dessert Course: Post Mini Golf Sweets

5 Layer Chocolate Pie (my mom’s recipe – the same one baked at The Rustic Inn Cafe & Betty’s Pies in northern MN)

Lemon Meringue Pie

Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps

This menu was created with my favorite partner in crime, Maxine. I wouldn’t be able to do nearly as much in the kitchen nor be as inspired to try new things if it weren’t for her.

We went shopping the day before and made quite a bit the day before, so you can plan ahead for this menu. We were able to make the cookies, pies, and the chicken for the noodle salad. Pretty much everything else we did the morning of the shower.

More photos if you Read the rest of this entry »

It was almost a year ago that I went to Portland, but I just came across a collage I was putting together so I thought I’d throw it up here.

Portland, OR is a fantastic place to visit. I visited with my mom, sister, and my mom’s friend. My sister and I walked through most of the city together. We also rented a convertible one day (woohoo) and drove down to the Willamette Valley to do some wine tasting. Who knew that Argyle has such incredible bubbly?! We also drove over to the coast on our way back. It was wonderful.

This was the place that I first tasted New Belgium’s Springboard beer – my all time favorite. They only sell it for a short time in the spring, and I’m anxiously anticipating this year’s release. Perhaps that’s why I thought this would be an appropriate post today.

It’s a beautiful spring day here in Minneapolis – going to be 60 degrees today and the sun is shining bright.

Dear Garlic-

If you were a person, I would ask you to marry me. I love you so much that my friends tell me I sometimes smell like you after a night of wild cooking. I can never get enough of you.

I remember the first time I met you. It was when my mom introduced us to each other over dinner. The way you dressed that Caesar salad is illegal in most countries.

Because of you, dear Garlic, I am not afraid of vampires. You give me courage to face the world.

In honor of you, I dedicate this post. My dear Garlic, let me count the ways I love you:

Garlicky Roast Chicken with Garlic Jus on Garlic Toast

40 Cloves and a Chicken

Roasted Garlic

French Garlic Soup

44 Clove Garlic Soup

Spaghetti with Swiss Chard and Garlic Chips

Chile-Garlic Egg Noodles

Garlicky Greens

Heidi’s Dad’s Garlic Bread

Castilian Garlic Soup

Roasted Sardines with Green Garlic and Mint

Skirt Steak with Cilantro Garlic Sauce

Orange, Sage, and Garlic Pork Tenderloin

Pineapple-Braised Ribs with Honey-Garlic Tomato Glaze

Lots of love,

Pip

xoxoxo

Pip + Garlic = True Love

After the brilliant success of our first Gourmet Club meeting back in January, I immediately went home and started scavenging the internet for braised short rib recipes – because it doesn’t get much better than that. And man oh man….it doesn’t.

Nicole and I were serving the main course this time, which also meant we would be hosting it at my house. I first thought an Asian inspired short rib recipe would be exactly what I was looking for. Until I found this recipe: Brasato al Barolo (Braised Short Ribs with Pumpkin Orzo and Horseradish Gremolata). YUM.

Then I thought…wait a second, this is from Mario Batali’s restaurant Babbo cookbook…hmmm…why does that sound familiar? Then it dawned on me! I finished a book at the end of November titled “Heat” – which is now one of my favorite books – about Bill Buford working for Mario Batali and traveling through Italy. Well, this dish is mentioned in great detail. I looked it up, laughed at the descriptions (it’s violently vulgar), and said “sign me up! this is the dish!”

I read some more about the region this dish comes from – Emilia Romagna in northern Italy and discovered this from wikipedia:

The city of Bologna is famous for its superb cuisine. Perhaps less well known is the fact that it lies at the heart of Emilia Romagna, a region celebrated both in Italy and abroad for the range and quality of its culinary delights. From the Adriatic coast of Ravenna and Forlì to the inland plains and river vallleys of Parma, Piacenza, and Modena, Emila Romagna is richly blessed with prime produce and ingenious cooks.

We preordered short ribs (not flank style but the cut with one bone per rib) and picked them up early that Saturday along with all the other ingredients, then went back to my place to get everything prepped. Have you ever grated fresh horseradish? It is STRONG. And it’s fleshy and weird – it kind of creeped me out a bit.

Either way, the dish was hands down the best dish I’ve ever made. It was simple enough to do again, although somewhat time intensive as it requires a long time in the oven. Although the recipe says to braise at 375 for 2 hours, the next time I would braise at 350 for 3 hours.

The table setting had an Italian theme with reds, greens, and yellows.

Here is the menu:

First Course

Antipasto platter of assorted meats, cheeses, olives, and breads

Paired with: Tommasi Poggio al Tufo Rompicollo, Maremma Tuscana, 2004

Second Course

Tagliatelle with Mussels, Clams and Pesto

Paired with: Tamellini Soave, 2005 (excellent wine)

Third Course

Braised Short Ribs with Pumpkin Orzo and Horseradish Gremolata

Paired with: Josetta Saffirio Barolo, 2002

*A special note about the wine: there is this fellow who suggests wine at the place I love to go (Hennepin Lake Liquors in Uptown – their selection and prices are unbeatable) who, in the past, has had a very low success rate at suggesting wines for me. My strategy for Sat? Avoid him AT ALL COSTS. Well…that unfortunately didn’t happen as another worker pointed me directly to him and there was no one else in the store. F*****ck. He ended up suggesting this wine and it was excellent. Thank god. It was $40/bottle and we bought 2. Josetta Saffirio learned how to make wine from her mom and dad, who are both professors of winemaking in Italy. This is her second or third vintage and only makes 3,000 cases a year.

Fourth Course

Various Cheeses: Taleggio served with honeycomb, Pecorino ginepro served with balsamic reduction and olive oil, Sottocenere al Tartufo, Blu del Moncenisio with fig pear spread, Valsesia Toma with fig pear spread, La Tur with honeycomb

Paired with: Ruvei Barbera d’Alba, 2005

Fifth Course

Panna Cotta with fresh strawberries and blackberries

Paired with: Felsina vin Santo Chianti Classico, 1999

recipes after the jump

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It seems like my friends and I have been talking forever about starting a gourmet club. You get a group of people together, everyone cooks, you drink wine, and have a great time. I know, it sounds like every weekend with my friends. But honestly, this is different!

Last fall we finally got our shit together and decided to schedule the first one in January. Ten people decided to join, which includes 4 couples and 2 singles so we paired up into groups of 2. Nicole’s boyfriend wasn’t interested, so she and I got paired up.

The idea is that whoever hosts that night chooses the theme and main course. January was the month of Gascony, France. Home to luxurious ingredients like foie gras and duck confit, as well as fishing, wine making and brandy distilling. The host decided to make duck confit and sent us info on Gascony.

I was responsible for the third course and it turned out that would be salad for the evening. First course was hors d’oeuvres, second course was garlic soup (YUM!) and the last course was dessert.

So the evening turned out pretty nice. Until the oven broke. Hahahah. I know we’ll look back in a couple years and say, “Remember our first gourmet club and Molly’s oven broke? And we had to use her upstairs neighbor’s? Ha!”

We went through plenty of wine and plenty of food…

First Course

Radishes with chive butter

Warm olives with rosemary, garlic and lemon

Escargot in herbed cream served on crostini

Paired with Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Champagne 2004

Second Course

Garlic Soup with truffle oil (yeah, forgot the truffle oil, woops!)

Paired with Chateau Grande Cassagne Rose – Costieres de Nimes 2006 (I’ve had this rose many times and it tasted absolutely scrumptious with this soup!)

Third Course

Baked Goat Cheese Salad

Paired with Villa Burdigala Bordeaux Millesime 2004

Fourth Course

Duck confit with cinnamon sauteed apples and carrots

Paired with 100% Cab Franc – Chinon Les Petites Roches 2006

Fifth Course

Apple Brandy Tatin

Paired with Larressingle Armagnac and Dow’s 10 Year Tawny Port

recipes after the jump

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Cook of course! I had Friday and Monday off this last weekend (I started a new job and am getting into a new schedule).

It was really nice to have 4 days off in a row, but more importantly it was incredible to have 2 days off when the majority of people are at work. I literally woke up and my first thought was, “What am I going to cook today?”

I made breakfast and coffee … then sat down on the couch with some cookbooks. I already talked about the mole I made on Friday (which was utterly delectably rich and savory and perfectly spicy). I’ll make mole again for sure.

I also made cinnamon rolls (which were somewhat unsuccessful – yeah. It turns out I can bake pies and some cakes, but not much else), pork tinga, and lasagna. Pretty much all over the place, huh?

Monday afternoon I was relishing my weekend. I got to cook all weekend! It was perfectly satisfying. And I realized this is what I get to do every Monday – cook all day. Whew – this makes me happy.