potato-leek gratin & a holiday contest!

With Thanksgiving looming on the near horizon, I’ve been tweaking recipes for holiday sides and trying to balance family traditions with new recipes to shake things up a bit. I was a bit enamored with the potato-leek soup I posted last week, so much so that I enjoyed it for breakfast for four days straight. In an effort to confirm that leeks and potatoes are in fact best friends I baked this gratin. I am happy to report that it was delicious and that leeks and potatoes should be combined whenever possible. Now onto the contest!

thanksgiving contest:

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, I thought it would be fun to hear about your holiday stories, cooking experiences, questions, tips, and ideas. For those of you with a bit of a writer’s block (happens to me all the time) here are some jumping off points:

• Do you cook the same thing every year or do you like to try new recipes?
• Any Thanksgiving success stories or misses?
• Fun tips or ideas?
• Favorite memories?
• Do you order take-out for Thanksgiving?

All you have to do is share a note in the comment section below to enter to win a treat in the mail. Easy as that.

So what’s the prize? One of my favorite cookbooks from my library - Biba Caggiano’s Italy al Dente. A cookbook I have used for inspiration many times, it is loaded with recipes for pasta, risotto, gnocchi, and polenta - perfect for the cool winter nights ahead. I picked up this cookbook at a used bookstore in Berkeley, so it is a little loved (with a note from someone’s grandma), but I always find the best cookbooks are passed along with a bit of wear.

I’ll be picking the winner at random on Thursday, 11/20. If you get the big prize, I will notify you by email.

So please share your stories and definitely try out this gratin recipe!

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Posted in fall recipes, holiday & party recipes | 19 Comments »

tapas heaven

After one meal at Toro Bravo (Portland, OR) I was ready to pack my bags and book a flight to Spain. Unfortunately, with my big cross-country move looming in the near future, I won’t be brushing up on my Spanish anytime soon, but I do think that Spain may have overtaken Italy at the top of my must-visit list. In the meantime I am going to concentrate my energy on trying to re-create the dishes I shared at Toro Bravo, or as I termed it on my twitter post: tapas heaven.

I feel comfortable claiming Toro Bravo as tapas heaven because I am pretty sure I have been to tapas hell, which goes a little something like this: You hear about a new small plates restaurant and you gather a group of friends to go check it out. Usually it is a lounge-style setting, with seats that are low to the ground and some sort of techno/club music playing in the background. The cocktail list is full of mojitos and all sorts of ‘tinis.’ You order off a short menu that is uninspired and overpriced. The plates come out spontaneously or erratically (and some are forgotten). The bill is dropped, your eyes widen, and you walk out disgruntled and hungry.

Walking out of Toro Bravo this past weekend, I was anything but hungry. As a group of four we ordered about ten dishes, some small and others more substantial. (more…)

Posted in anytime recipes, holiday & party recipes | 17 Comments »

Chicken Liver Paté

Dining out lately in San Francisco and Portland, Oregon I have spotted more and more offal dishes on restaurant menus and I hope this trend continues. Once prized by our ancestors as nutrient-dense sources of vitamins and minerals, offal has fallen out of favor in the current standard American diet (S.A.D.).

I think it’s a good idea to bring offal back into favor as it offers rich sources of vitamins A and D, essential fatty acids, and macro and trace minerals. Perhaps more difficult to quantify, but certainly no less important, is the ethical element of eating offal. In our current culture, which views animal products as a commodity, many animal parts are abused, neglected or simply thrown away. By consuming offal you are respecting an animal in a full and holistic way by leaving nothing to waste. (more…)

Posted in holiday & party recipes | 5 Comments »