Cyclecation in Idaho

Big Bike, Little Bike

In August we spent two glorious weeks bike riding in Idaho’s panhandle. We stationed ourselves in Wallace, a small historic mining town whose claim to fame until the 1980′s was the host, (or should we say, “hostess?”), to more than a dozen brothels. Now the most notable red light in town is the Red Light Garage where huckleberry milkshakes are the claim to fame and locals play live music on the weekends. Aside from 300 miles of bike riding in two weeks we enjoyed swimming, tubing, fishing, hiking and eating huckleberries.

The Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes is a 71 mile paved bike trail following the Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way. The trails are smooth and wind through small towns, forests, rivers and around Lake Couer d’ Alene. The scenery is spectacular and the trails are easy to ride since the steepest grades are ones that trains used to summit. The trails are very safe for our seven year old to ride on his own bike and restroom access is readily available. We began our 20-40 mile rides at a different point on the trail each day ensuring an ice cream stop on just about every ride. The weather in August is ideal for bike riding: sunny, with temperatures in the low 80′s. Squirty’s longest ride was 40 miles! Once he tasted speed on his new Felt road bike, we couldn’t stop him. This is family bike riding at its best.

Cycling Chef Cycling

Cycling by the river

Harrison Trail

Bull Run Trail

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The other bike riding highlight was mountain biking on breathtaking scenic stretches of railroad trails on the Route of the Hiawatha which winds through 10 train tunnels and 7 train trestles. The route is 15 miles downhill beginning at over 4,000 feet elevation. Aside from riding through pitch black, cold, drippy tunnels (the longest is 1.6 miles) the descent is fairly easy. The ascent on bikes was a sweaty, challenging 1,000 feet!

Trees! and more trees!

Hiawatha train trestle

A short train tunnel

Domestique in training

Stamina in the VeloKitchen

Mole Poblano

Ride a hilly Metric Century on my bicycle (62 miles) or prepare a Mole Poblano? Each takes about 5 -1/2 hours to complete and both are epic events. Standing in the kitchen can be nearly as tiring as pedaling for that duration. I’ve had the pleasure of eating many kinds of moles of pureed spices, chiles, seeds and a myriad of other ingredients in Mexico many times. I had heard that preparing this Mexican haute cuisine dish from scratch was time-consuming, but I had no idea of the effort required.  The recipe I chose is from Fonda San Miguel: Thirty Years of Food and Art (available on epicurious.com) and is very similar to the one in Frida’s Fiestas, Recipes and Reminiscences of Life with Frida Kahlo a lovely, beautiful cookbook.

22 dried chiles

My preparation began by shopping at the Mercado Latino which sells the dried chiles in separate bags for about $2.50 each. Nearly every one of the 20+ ingredients in this mole needs pre-treatment before being combined into one of three distinct purees. I toasted, roasted, blanched, blended, plumped, chopped, popped, husked, ground, soaked, fried, … you get the picture. In my pre-cooking research I read many warnings against taking shortcuts to avoid a muddy-tasting mole.

My husband helped out after his 30 mile bike ride by deveining and de-seeding 22 dried chiles: 9 mulato, 7 pasilla and 6 ancho. The dried chiles are black with specks of red and give the Mole Poblano its color. Chef Ravago strongly advises using exactly 22 chiles, and although you can vary the number of each, you may never substitute any other kind of chile. I counted out the chiles three times. I never question cooking superstitions especially on such an elaborate dish.

Ibarra chocolate

In the spirit of keeping my blog posts at around 500 words, I will summarize the next few hours of the preparation process which challenged all of my cooking know-how and followed with heavy-duty pureeing to ensure smooth pastes. By the end of the afternoon even my VitaMix and food processor were tired, their motors heating up in protest! I can certainly empathize with cooks from the days of old when the ingredients were hand-ground in a molcajete. After combining half a round of Ibarra Mexican chocolate with the purees, the mole quietly simmered in a dutch oven for about an hour requiring frequent stirring to prevent scorching. My fear of ruining four hours of food preparation and needlessly splattering the VeloKitchen and dirtying countless dishes counted toward my day’s upper body workout.

Mole Poblano is commonly served over chicken in Mexican restaurants. Frida’s recipe calls for turkey. Since we prepared this dish as an appetizer for a chocolate-themed wine dinner with foodie friends, we decided to present the mole over three kinds of meat: poached turkey, roasted duck and grilled pork, and served with a dark Mexican beer: Negra Modelo. My husband handled the roasting and grilling.

The end result was a divine Mole Poblano: well-balanced, smooth, spicy, but not too hot, and no flavor overpowered another. By far, the duck brought out the virtues of the mole’s flavors and the beer nicely complimented the spices and textures. 

If you are interested in more photos of the mole preparation process, please visit my Facebook page, Cycling Chef, http://bit.ly/9zOXK9 and please share your Mole Poblano cooking and eating experiences in the comments below!

©2009 Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Rights Reserved.

A Curry Love Affair in the VeloKitchen

I haven’t always had a love affair with curry, especially Indian curries. In fact, when I met Tony and we began our long distance, (7,253 miles or 11,671 km), year long courtship between Seattle, Washington and Wellington, New Zealand via email and I learned Indian food was his favorite, a thought crossed my mind that we might not be as compatible as we had seemed in person. I now realize my Indian curry experience had been quite limited.

Hundreds of emails in 12 months where his burning question EVERY day was, “What are you having for dinner?” made me realize the way to this man’s heart was through his stomach. It wasn’t until after we were married and he moved many jars of assorted spices, seeds, pods, sticks, peppers and leaves into the spice cupboard that I learned he was quite serious about his curries. I made a mental note that to have harmony at our dinner table I should learn to embrace Indian curries. As it turned he introduced me to my first homemade Indian curry via his favorite recipe book “Indian Curries” by Madhur Jaffrey. Timatur Murghi (Chicken with tomatoes and garam masala) was delicious! That dish is what I now call my “comfort curry.”

With curry peace achieved my husband cooked about two curries a week for several years. I started reading curry recipes, but felt intimidated by the long lists of ingredients. It’s not unusual for a curry recipe to call for 10 to 15 spices PLUS another five or more other ingredients (meat, tomatoes, onions, etc.). Most curry recipe instructions are fairly precise in the order to add each ingredient and the duration to stir, cook or simmer each before adding the next which makes them seem complex, but once I got brave enough to cook the first few, the steps became logical.

I don’t remember which curry recipe I chose first to prepare on my own and without a pre-made curry mix, but I found cooking Indian curries quite enjoyable. That led to our next step, our 50 Curries Project, where we are cooking our way out of a curry rut of preparing the same 6-8 recipes. We decided to stretch our apron strings and are experimenting with different curry flavors by cooking our way through Camellia Panjabi’s “50 Great Curries of India” cookbook. The photos in the cookbook are mouth watering.

We are cooking the curries at random and a few weekends ago we prepared our eighth curry from Panjabi’s book, Malabar Shrimp Curry (Konju Curry). The photo of this curry graces the cover of the cookbook and is a beautiful combination of red and orange accented with green curry leaves and hot peppers. We made this curry with U15 prawns. The most interesting and different preparation step from other curries we have cooked was heating two teaspoons of oil in a ladle over the stovetop burner and adding sliced shallots and curry leaves to infuse the oil which was poured over the prawns just before serving. We rated this dish 8/10 and will certainly be preparing this curry again.

Next weekend we invited friends to dinner for the ninth curry. I’m pretty sure we will delay making the egg curry, (I’ve got to get my head around hard boiled eggs and curry), or the Aab Gosht (Lamb Cooked in Milk). The photo of Aab Gosht shows white meat, apparently from the milk, served on white rice which doesn’t look too appetizing in the photo. But every curry in this cookbook has surprised our taste buds, so stand by for the next curry post and the rest in this book. We are committed to cooking all 50!

Do you enjoy preparing and eating Indian curries? Check out our Curry Crazy Project on our 50 Curries Project page where we are cooking our way through Camellia Panjabi’s 50 Great Curries of India cookbook!

©2009 Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Rights Reserved.

Death Row Meal in the VeloKitchen

The D.C. sniper’s execution date is set for Nov. 10th, but I’m not here to debate the death penalty. Nor is this post meant to be morbid or macabre even though it’s published on Halloween. However the topic brings up the question, if you were able, ”What would you choose for your last dinner?”

My husband has a menu he has long called his “Death Row Meal.” (He’s not planning anything sinister. Neither am I). His ultimate comfort food meal is braised lamb chops with onions and gravy served with boiled potatoes, green peas and cauliflower with English cheddar cheese sauce. This supper is a simple and hearty dish he insists on preparing whenever I bring home lamb chops. If I were choosing my last meal, I think I might like someone else to prepare my dinner. In my research for this post it seems that inmates on death row choose comfort foods or foods unique to their culture rather than meals that are exotic or rare. Some do not make a final meal request. Reportedly the most requested meal by death row inmates is a cheeseburger and fries.

Last year, at a wine dinner with our foodie friends, we went around the table and asked each person to describe their Death Row Meal. Because we are cooking and food enthusiasts, our conversation took a couple of hours and we ended up going around and around the table describing our “last” entree, appetizer, dessert and salad. The wide variety of choices, some simple and others rare, made for very interesting debate and quite a few laughs.

Feel free to leave a comment below of your Death Row Meal!

©2009 Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Rights Reserved.

35 Green Cardamoms in the VeloKitchen

In my research to write this post I learned that cardamoms are part of the ginger family. There are three types: green, black and Madagascar. The Indian curries we cook usually call for green cardamom and we use two to three whole pods which are cooked in the sauce and then discarded. Sometimes we forget to remove them before serving and we find out when we bite into something crunchy and bitter. This recipe, Elaichi Gosht, (Meat cooked with Cardamom), on p. 86 on Camellia Panjabi’s cookbook “50 Great Curries of India”, caught our attention because it is prepared with 35 ground green cardamoms, ten times more than any other curry we have cooked.

The other ingredient curious to us, as compared to other Indian curries we cook, is that this recipe calls for two teaspoons of ground black pepper. Our cookbook explains that in many parts of India this dish is prescribed to women who have recently given birth and in the Sindh region new mothers eat this curry every day. It makes me wonder how this primes the palates of breast-fed babes in India.

My husband prepared this curry with lamb, although it could be prepared with chicken. He ground the cardamom pods in our coffee bean grinder. The black pepper flavor was very intense and overpowered the other flavors, (tomatoes, turmeric, chile, coriander powder). This is our fifth adventure in our “50 Curries Project” and we have no regrets about trying something different, but it did not rate anywhere near one of our favorite curries. If we prepare this dish again, we would season it with about 1/2 tsp. black pepper, add garam masala before serving and garnish with a flavorful chutney.

Do you enjoy preparing and eating Indian curries? Check out our Curry Crazy Project on our 50 Curries Project page where we are cooking our way through Camellia Panjabi’s 50 Great Curries of India cookbook!

©2009 Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Rights Reserved.

Thick as Fog in the VeloKitchen

Fall has arrived in the Pacific Northwest which means rain, showers, drizzle, … I’ve heard that Native Americans in this area have 100′s of different words for the drippy stuff that falls on us pretty much constantly from October through April. I usually garage my bike for the season and opt for other exercise since I don’t like to be cold and wet. My husband is a year-round rider. Me? I prefer to buy my winter clothes at Nordstrom rather than Performance Bike.

This recipe is for a hearty split pea soup. I make it after my cycling season ends because it’s no fun being the stoker on a tandem bike after the bike captain eats this meal! I prefer not to puree the veggies for this recipe, so I chop them in small pieces before cooking. If you prefer a pureed soup or a vegetarian version, leave out the chopped ham and remove the ham hocks before putting the soup in your blender. This soup can be cooked in a slow-cooker or in a dutch oven. Both methods turn out a tasty meal. Enjoy!

Split Pea & Ham Hock Soup
Serves 8 (nice for leftovers)

2 cups dried split peas
2-4 ham hocks
1 lb. of ham, cubed
3 chopped leeks (use the white & green bits)
2 cups chopped carrots
2 cups chopped celery
2 bay leaves
Thyme – 3 tsp fresh or 2 tsp dried
1 tsp cracked black pepper
dash of cayenne pepper
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
6 cups water

1. I always forget to soak beans the night before so I quick-soak them by covering with cold water, bringing to a boil and letting sit for 1 hour.
2. Combine all ingredients. Slow-cook at low 8 hours or high 4 hours.

©2009 Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Rights Reserved.

Rocking the Casbah in the VeloKitchen

About every three months we get together with three couples who enjoy fine food and wine for a homemade, gourmet meal of a specific cuisine. We rotate the preparation of each course, appetizer, salad, main dish and dessert. Recently we began stretching our cooking fortes by choosing cuisines out of our cooking comfort zones. At each dinner we continue to raise the bar of excellence! This weekend’s meal theme was Moroccan food and we prepared a Lamb Tagine. From my research I concluded that tagines differ in style and ingredients, especially in the selection of vegetables and fruits. For example, some recipes called for potatoes and peas and others for sweet fruits such as prunes or dates. The recipe below has none of these. If you already cook Indian curries, you will find the steps to prepare this tagine very similar. Below the recipe of my version of our tagine are some preparation tips.

Moroccan Tagine

1. Toss 2 lbs of lamb (or chicken) cut into bite-sized cubes with 2 tablespoons of olive oil to coat.

2. I used the spices recommended in the following Lamb Tagine recipe (Allrecipes.com) for the marinade making the following adjustments: I cut the cayenne pepper by half and, instead, added a hot pepper to the sauce and used about 5 cloves of fresh garlic instead of garlic powder. Here’s the marinade link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Lamb-Tagine/Detail.aspx

Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients. Most are probably in your spice cabinet. I marinated the meat for about six hours.

3. Brown the marinated meat in a heavy bottomed pan. We used our trusty cast iron fry pan.

4. To prepare the sauce the meat will simmer in for 2 hours, I used some of Jamie Oliver’s recommendations from this recipe, http://www.jamieoliver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=30442. Here’s my version:

In my cast iron dutch oven I sweated the following vegetables for about 15 minutes until they were soft and reduced in bulk by half.

2 cups onions, 1 red onion and 1 Walla Walla sweet onion
10 quartered carrots cut into three inch slices
6 celery sticks chopped thinly
5 garlic gloves
1 T freshly grated ginger
1 small hot chili (or more, or less, to your preference for heat)

5. Add 1 T balsamic vinegar and 1 cup of white wine. Simmer for a few minutes.

6. Add:
2 cans of chopped tomatoes with their juice
Zest of 1 lemon
6 anchovy fillets (Jamie Oliver says these bring out the flavor of the lamb and I agree. You won’t taste the anchovies in the sauce when the meal is cooked).

6. Add the cooked meat, bring to a boil and put in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 2 hours.
 
7. Serve over couscous and with Moroccan bread (or pita bread).

Preparation Tips:
- I attempted to make Moroccan bread from scratch, but mine turned out like hockey pucks, so, obviously, I need more practice.
- This recipe could easily be made in a slow-cooker. I would skip marinating the meat and add the spices to the meat and sauce. I haven’t tried this yet, but if you do, please leave a comment below.

This tagine was warm without overbearing heat from the chili. Each course of our dinner burst with flavors. We ate interesting appetizers of risotto cakes and chicken wings, a beautiful, colorful salad of roasted vegetables, an amazing fig tart with cardamon cream and nine bottles of fine wines. We enjoyed many laughs and another delightful wine dinner with our friends and we got to eat the leftover tagine which was just as tasty the the next day.

  

©2009 Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Rights Reserved.

Slow-cooked Korean-style Ribs in the VeloKitchen

Long ago I established a “no appliance” rule for birthday and Christmas gifts. Since we eat at home most days and we cook from scratch, I consider kitchen accessories as “necessities.” Luckily, my husband agrees so when I decided to replace our old crockpot with a new model, I researched products, read reviews and chose the All-Clad Stainless Steel 6-1/2 quart slow cooker with a ceramic insert. Even though the All-Clad is more pricey than other products, I feel I made a wise long-term purchase since this is a product I foresee I will use often. Calling it a “slow cooker” instead of a “crockpot” helped me justify the extra expense, too. With this huge and shiny new toy on my kitchen counter, I decided I must get away from my old crockpot recipes, which to me, taste like the same old casserole. I am trying other cuisines in my slow cooker and they are turning out successfully.

We are big fans of take-out Korean-style beef short ribs, and inspired by a Twitter friend I decided to try them in my new slow cooker. After reading a few recipes, I prepared the ribs as below. Below is the recipe and a few preparation tips.

Slow Cooked Korean-style Beef Short Ribs

Serves 4

3 lbs. beef chuck short ribs with bones, thin sliced

1. Stir together in a large glass measuring cup:
    1 cup orange juice
    1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
    2 tablespoons sesame oil
    2 tablespoons honey (or brown sugar)
    2 teaspoons rice vinegar
    1 tablespoon minced gingerroot
    1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    5 garlic cloves, finely minced
    12 scallions, (include white and part of the green leaves) finely chopped

2. Pour about 1/2 cup of sauce into the bottom of the slow cooker. Layer the ribs and massage sauce into each rib. I don’t like to touch raw meat, so I use gloves. Pour a small amount of the remaining sauce over each layer.

3. Slow cook for 6-8 hours.

Tips:
- When pressed for time, (and who isn’t?), I use chopped gingerroot from a jar instead of peeling and grating fresh gingerroot. The flavor from a jar is a bit milder, but a good substitute.
- My garlic press is one of my most important kitchen tools. I rarely mince or slice garlic with a knife to save time and to ensure the garlic pieces in my dish are small enough.
- Slow cooking the meat, (chicken could be substituted for beef in this recipe), replaces the need for marinating in advance since the slow cooking process infuses the meat with the spices and other flavors.
- The meat was very tender after cooking for eight hours and fell off the bone. The next time I will use a spatula instead of tongs to serve to try to keep the ribs together.

Serving suggestions: Steamed rice and Sauteed Red Swiss Chard with Garlic, recipe link: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sauteed-Red-Swiss-Chard-with-Garlic-13423

The next meal I am planning for my slow cooker is a Moroccan Lamb Tagine. Stand by for the blog post!

©2009 Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Rights Reserved.

Palak Gosht (slow Indian cooked curry) in the VeloKitchen

Palak Gosht

We finished eating dinner two hours ago and our house still smells like a curry! I broke in my brand new All-Clad slow cooker with an Indian lamb and spinach curry, also known as palak gosht. I was inspired by the recipe in the October 2009 “Oprah” magazine. Here is the link: http://www.oprah.com/recipe/omagazine/recipes/200910-omag-recipe-lamb-curry . If you have never made a curry or your family is not used to eating Indian curries, I recommend this recipe as it is mild and tasty. I think you could easily substitute chicken for lamb, or even make this recipe vegetarian with an equally succesful result. 

We eat Indian curries at least twice a week so I enhanced this recipe based on our experience of cooking with Indian spices and after consulting one of our Indian cookbooks, 50 Great Curries of India by Camelia Panjabi.  When you open our spice cabinet, the smells of curry ingredients waft out of the cupboard. We usually make a mild version for our youngster (little to no chili or cayenne pepper) and a spicier one for the adults. If my husband sweats from his brow, then the curry is hot enough! This was my first attempt at cooking a curry in the slow cooker. The advantages of slow cooking are that you can prepare the meal in advance and the meat turns out melt-in-your mouth tender.

To the recipe above, I added 3/4 tsp. coriander powder, a bay leaf and 2 cloves. The next time I prepare this curry I would also add 1/2 tsp. Garam Masala powder just before serving. To prepare a family-friendly recipe, I cut the cayenne pepper to 1/8 teaspoon while the curry simmered in the crockpot. When the slow cook cycle was complete, (eight hours on low heat), I removed my son’s portion and added two small Thai chilis to the rest to add heat to the curry. If you like your curries very hot, then you could add even more chilis at this step since adding the yogurt at the end cuts the heat of the chilis.

If your slow cooker has been on the warm cycle for an hour or more, you will need to slightly heat the curry before you add the spinach at the end so that it will wilt quickly (in about five minutes). Beware not to heat the curry too much or when you add the yogurt just before serving, the yogurt will curdle. This will not change the flavor, but curdled dairy looks clumpy instead of creamy. I served this curry over rice.  My vote for cooking a curry in a slow cooker is a win and I look forward to adapting other recipes. What’s your experience cooking Indian curries? Please leave a comment below!

Do you enjoy preparing and eating Indian curries? Check out our Curry Crazy Project on our 50 Curries Project page where we are cooking our way through Camellia Panjabi’s 50 Great Curries of India cookbook!

©2009 Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Rights Reserved.

Green Lips in the VeloKitchen

My mom is from Cataluña, the northwest region of Spain, and our family grew up eating what’s now called a “Mediterranean Diet.”  The aroma of olive oil, garlic and onions sauteeing in a fry pan are comfort food smells in my kitchen. I often joke that when we were growing up my mom would begin cooking dinner each night with these three ingredients, and then say, “What should we have for dinner?” and then add chicken, fish, vegetables, etc. to the pan.

A few weeks ago Scallywag, who as an unusual palate for a six-year old, requested one of his favorite dinners: greenlip mussels. I’m always looking for different “brain foods” to add variety to our diet. Greenlip mussels are reported to have low mercury content and are high in Omega-3 fatty acids. I have prepared greenlip mussels in many different ways, but my favorite recipe is a simple broth of my mom’s favorite meal starter plus chopped fresh ginger, red peppers, white wine, Thai fish sauce and sweet chili sauce. The greenlip mussels we are able to buy in our neighborhood are cooked and flash frozen so we only need to steam them for about eight minutes in the broth before we eat them. In this photo you can see apricot and cream colored mussels. The apricot colored ones are female; the cream ones are male. They taste the same.

I will never forget the first time I tasted greenlip mussels at the Mussel Boys Restaurant in Havelock South, near the top of the South Island in New Zealand in the year 2000.  They were that special! The Mussel Boys Restaurant was once described by Travel and Leisure magazine as a “funky roadside shack.” Greenlip mussels are endemic to New Zealand and although the mussels are large in size, they are not chewy, but tender and flavorful. The Mussel Boys prepare greenlips is many different ways. If you have the opportunity to visit New Zealand, don’t miss this great delicacy! And if you can find greenlip mussels in your neighborhood, they are easy to prepare to make a quick, tasty, nutritious meal.

©2009 Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Rights Reserved.

Figs and Rocket in the VeloKitchen

Eruca Sativa is the Latin name for arugula, also known as rocket, an edible green often used in salads. This summer we have enjoyed rocket’s peppery flavor tossed with lemon olive oil and feta cheese. A friend suggested adding fresh figs to add another late summer ingredient. Fresh figs are not a staple in the VeloKitchen, but I decided to give them a try. The result was splendid and the combination of colors of the figs’ purple skin and reddish and white flesh made a beautiful presentation!

Figs are often called a fruit, but the fig is actually the flower which blooms inside the skin and the seeds are the fruit. The fig has a long cultural history starting with Adam and Eve’s fig leaves. The flowers of the common fig are female and require no pollination and some believe the fig is the oldest fruit. Aside from tasting delicious, figs are also nutritious. If you are interested in learning more, I suggest checking out Wikipedia’s entry on figs.

Figs are called “higos” in Spanish and I have eaten them in Spanish, Italian and Colombian dishes. After reading about and researching information on figs, I am inspired to look for recipes to incorporate them into our meals. If you’ve never tried a fresh fig, cut one open and taste it. If you have a great recipe, please share it!

Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

©2009. All Rights Reserved.

Pavlova in the VeloKitchen

Pavlova is a heavenly meringue dessert with a crunchy outer layer and a soft, marshmallowy interior topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit. The dessert is said to have originated in honor of the Russian ballerina, Ánna Pávlova, who visited New Zealand and Australia in the 1920s. Both countries claim to be the inventor of this dessert, and not that I want to contribute to the controversy, but since my husband grew up in New Zealand I stick to the version that Kiwis were the creators.

Most often pavlova is prepared as a large, single dish and then servings are cut and shared. As far as I can tell, just about any fresh fruit or combination of fruits can be served in a pavlova. I prefer to make mini-pavlovas from Nigella Lawson’s recipe from her cookbook “How to be a Domestic Goddess” and top them with berries. These look beautiful and I find the presentation more manageable in individual serving sizes. Also, if any of meringue shells crack in the preparation process, repairs can be easily covered up with the other ingredients without ruining the entire dessert.

This recipe calls for beating egg whites, a pinch of salt and baker’s sugar, a very fine sugar also called caster sugar, and folding in corn starch, white vinegar and vanilla flavoring creating, as Nigella describes “glowing, satiny, snowy meringue.” Next I spooned the meringue in circular shapes onto parchment paper lined baking sheets and created a “bowl” shape in the middle to fill with whipped cream and fruit later. Then the shells bake 30 minutes in a warm oven and are left in the turned off oven for an additional 30 minutes. The shells are a very light brown color when they come out of the oven to cool.

For our pavlova filling, Scallywag and I ventured out to our “secret spot” in our neighborhood to pick wild blackberries. I should have worn long sleeves and pants to avoid getting scratched by the thorns. The end of August is the ideal harvest time for blackberries, which are considered by some as a pesky weed in the Pacific Northwest. Scallywag ate more berries than he picked, but this has become an annual tradition in our family.

The rest is simple. To ensure the meringue shells are crispy, just before serving we whipped fresh cream, dolloped spoonfulls onto the shells, added the blackberries and garnished each mini-pavlova with mint leaves from our herb garden. The combination of the sweet meringue, plain whipped cream and fresh fruit is a combination of textures and flavors that is a luxurious dessert in any season.

Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

© 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Larb ตุรกี in the VeloKitchen

My life has been busy since BoyMan1 is heading off to his university soon and I have been making preparationg for Boy2 to enter first grade. That’s not the entire story as the weather here has been ideal for bike riding and we have been riding many miles on our tandem and solo bikes. We are on the back side of the summer solstice which means the days are getting shorter and I feel desperate to make the most of summer weather.

Larb ตุรกี (which I hope is the correct translation for “turkey” in Thai) is a spicy meat salad and a colorful dish. This was my first attempt to prepare this dish at home. In restaurants I have had Larb ไก่ทอด (Larb Gai or Larb Chicken). The recipe I used from www.epicurious.com was surprisingly simple, quick and delicious. Click here for the recipe link: Larb Chicken Salad

Ground chicken is not so easy to come by at my local market, so I substituted ground turkey and when I began cooking I discovered I only had one lime, so I substituted lemons for the rest of the juice. The fragrances of chopped mint, lemon grass and cilantro combined with green onions and shallots made for a tasty summer meal. I made two versions, a spicy one with chilis for adults and I left out the chilis for Scallywag’s.

In Thai restaurants Larb is served with lettuce leaves to make a wrap so you can eat it with your fingers. The iceburg lettuce I used fell apart, so the next time I will look for a heartier leaf, perhaps a cabbage leaf or Boston Bibb which has more substance.

Let me know if you prepare this dish at home and how you enhanced the recipe for your family!

Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

© 2009. All Rights Reserved.

No Galangal in the VeloKitchen

My oldest son’s good friend who is a girl, but not a “girlfriend,”(don’t teens seem complicated these days?), is going away to college soon so we celebrated with a good-bye dinner. My son requested Ceviche or Thai Green Curry. I chose Green Curry since I think Ceviche tastes better when the weather is more Peruvian, (which actually occurs in Seattle from time to time).

I used Jamie Oliver’s “Fragrant Green Chicken Curry” recipe from his first cook book, The Naked Chef. Click here for the recipe link: Fragrant Green Chicken Curry
Two kitchen tools make the job easier for me; one is manual and ancient and the other is electric and modern.

The first is our well-seasoned molcajete, a Mexican version of a mortar and pestle, made from volcanic rock that we brought back from Guanajuato, Mexico ten years ago. My six year-old son, who loves to help in the kitchen, ground the coriander seeds in the molcajete. The other helpful tool for this meal is our Vita-Mix high performance blender which smoothed the fresh herbs and other ingredients: cilantro, lemongrass, basil, green onions, garlic, ginger root, black pepper, olive oil and lime juice and zest into a paste. The fragrance of the fresh herbs that filled our kitchen was delightful.

In Thailand a typical green curry would include Kaffir lime leaves and galangal, but both are difficult to find where I live. Galangal, also known as Blue Ginger, is a root sometimes described as having an aroma of citrus and earth and a hot ginger-pepper flavor. In some places in Southeast Asia galangal is purported to be an aphrodisiac, so I suppose it is just as well it was left out of this family meal.

I added a small green chili to the paste, but in retrospect, I should have added two or three since the coconut milk cut the heat of the chili. The rest of the curry is easy to prepare: add the paste to a hot wok or deep fry pan where it will sizzle and spit, add coconut milk and chicken (or shrimp) and in about 10 minutes the dish is complete and ready to be served on steamed jasmine rice. Although the more exotic ingredients of galangal and Kaffir lime leaves add additional flavors to this curry, the combination of these easy-to-find ingredients and simple preparation makes a delicious green curry for a weeknight meal that tastes loads better than any green curry mix I have tried from a jar or a packet. If you try it, let me know!

Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

© 2009. All Rights Reserved.

100 Boiled Eggs in the VeloKitchen

We are not very good about eating leftovers. We eat favorites like an Indian curry, Spag Bog or Shepherd’s Pie for lunch, but my family prefers a hot, fresh meal for dinner. Since the economic recession, I have been working on serving leftovers creatively.

This week, while doing my rushing around with all-of-the-usual, I decided to experiment using leftover grilled steak and lamb from two different meals in a recipe from a cooking class I took in Thailand. I chose to make Yam Nuea Yang (spicy grilled meat salad). I marinated the already cooked meat in oyster sauce, cracked pepper and soy sauce for about 30 minutes while chopping the vegetables: garlic, green onions, tomatoes, celery, cucumber and cilantro. The dressing was made from fresh squeezed limes, (left over from “Havana in the VeloKitchen”), fish sauce and a little sugar. I added a chili to spice up the adults’ salad. The result was very tasty!

Now, on to the 100 boiled eggs. I have had the fortune to visit Thailand twice. The second time was to give thanks to the fulfillment of a prayer-wish to the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. On our first visit our guide shared that, in Thailand, Buddha is viewed as a messenger to God and Buddha delivers messages to any religion’s God. He explained that temple visitors may pray their wishes and when these are fulfilled, they return to give thanks, often in the form of 100 boiled eggs which are donated to the monks for their once-daily meal.

I carefully followed the instructions for the Thai ritual using incense, a lotus flower and a small piece of gold leaf and prayed-wished privately for “a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.” Having suffered a miscarriage the year before, I was miraculously surprised when, within a month of returning home, I tested pregnant and nine months later delivered my second son, whom we affectionately call Scallywag. When Scallywag was born, I knew that “someday” I must return to Bangkok to thank Wat Phra Kaew, but I had no short term travel terms. When Scallywag was three months old, I was invited to speak at a business conference in Bangkok and I was able to return to give my gratitude.

My first challenge was: how would I acquire 100 boiled eggs while staying at a hotel? Thankfully, the concierge was very accomodating after I explained my story. He sent a messenger on a scooter to the local market who returned with a plastic bag filled with 100 boiled eggs. My husband carried Scallywag in the Snugli, I toted the 100 boiled eggs, (the bag was heavy!), and we caught a river taxi to the Grand Palace. Once we reached the Emerald Buddha a guide helped me chant my thanks in Thai. I have no idea what the words meant, but I repeated them dutifully. Then we stacked the 100 boiled eggs on a platter and left our symbolic thanks along with others’ gifts. Since this very personal experience I have been wonderous of the mystery of miracles and Scallywag’s favorite food is eggs, prepared any way.

Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

 © 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Berries in the VeloKitchen

Hubby, Scallywag (age 6) and I had a lovely 30 mile family bike ride on the tandem plus tag-along in the Puyallup Valley on the paved trail through Orting past the glacier-fed Carbon River to South Prairie where we stopped for a couple of iced lattes and an Italian soda. The volcanic soil from Mt Rainier’s ancient eruptions makes this farm land very fertile. While Squirty chattered non-stop for the entire ride, we rode past Christmas tree farms, pumpkin patches, rhubarb fields and wild blackberry bushes. A few more weeks of 80+ degrees days like today will ripen those berries. I am convinced that if we could discover a way to convert the chatter of six-year olds to biofuel, we could power the world. After our ride we stopped at a berry farm and picked up three half-flats of fresh raspberries and blackberries. I’m thinking of ice cream and berry parfaits for tonight’s dessert and mini-berry pavlovas for tomorrow night, (if the berries last that long).

Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

 © 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Havana in the VeloKitchen

We are having an unusual heat wave in Seattle rather resembling the Caribbean than the Pacific Northwest. While riding my bike (just 10 miles today) I thought about tropical recipes, did a mini-inventory of my kitchen and settled on a bag of limes. Fresh lime and orange juice, cumin, garlic and onions became a marinade for Chicken Mojito. Rice, spiced black beans, fried ripe bananas, (plantains are hard to come by up here), a crisp white wine and Cuban music will make up tonight’s summer meal. Click here for the basic recipe I use from epicurious.com Chicken Mojito

My favorite Cuban song is “Habana del Este” sung by the Afro-Cuban All Stars. The slow, soulful song begins with a long instrumental section featuring a trumpet and then breaks into its only lyrics:

“Allá en la Habana del Este, gozando el puro y amor, tengo una casita linda, y allá está mi corazón.”

Here is my translation, although the lyrics sound are much more poetic in Spanish:

“In East Havana, enjoying a cigar and love, I have a pretty little house, and my heart is there.”

These lyrics beckon the joys of a summer evening and a simple life. Do you agree?

Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

 © 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Steamy in the VeloKitchen

It’s steamy in the VeloKitchen tonight, but not because of what’s cookin’. We’re not used to temps reaching near 100 with high humidity in the Pacific Northwest. I prefer my Century on a bike ride rather than see 100 on the thermometer!

To cool off this afternoon we drank a pitcher of Watermelonade, (blended 1/2 watermelon, the juice of two fresh lemons and ice). Since we like it tart I did not add sweetner. I found it challenging to be creative about what to prepare for dinner because it was so hot, but DH hit the pavement early this morning to beat the heat and rode his 18 mile daily ride on his bike and the boys are always hungry.

Even the yellow jackets thought it was too hot to disturb our meal and stayed away from one of their favorites: broiled fresh Coho salmon. I boiled cornetti pasta (looks like mini macaroni noodles) and tossed it with artichoke lemon pesto, served a garden salad and finished with fresh raspberries for dessert. We drank our weekday favorite white wine: Monkey Bay Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.

Family score of today’s dinner: 8/10. Everyone cleaned their plate.

The heat is predicted to continue for the rest of the week, so I welcome summer meal ideas from readers who are used to the dog days of summer.

Cycling_Chef’s Velokitchen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

 © 2009. All Rights Reserved.