Six Salts a Seasoning

I said it before, and I’ll say it again – specialty foods are the one-size-fits-all perfect holiday gift. Last year I wrote about giving family, friends and neighbors fabulous foods from our newly opened Trader Joe’s. This year, I felt obligated to send out slabs of a delicious Pacific Northwest specialty – smoked Sockeye salmon from locally owned Seabolt’s Smokehouse (http://www.seabolts.com/).

I too was gifted with some WONDERFUL culinary contributions from Kris Kringle...both childhood favorites to savor (Neumeister’s chocolates ~ http://www.neumeisterscandyshoppe.com/) and exciting new items to sample. Several of the more unusual indulgences – Lime and Chili Infused Macadamia Oil, Barrel Aged Fig Balsamic Vinegar, black truffle powder – came from a website previously unknown to me, but one definitely worth a more serious look.

The Cooking Enthusiast (http://www.cookingenthusiast.com/) boasts everything from coffee and condiments to cutlery and cookware (I spied some beautiful hand-painted Polish pottery I need to add to my collection). While the oil and vinegar are yet to be opened, I – on a whim – added a level tablespoon of black truffle powder to the white sauce I was making for my scalloped potatoes. The results were simply maahvelous and shall be repeated soon!

SaltWorks (http://www.saltworks.us/) was the source of a savory sampler including Wild Porcini, Black Truffle, Spanish Rosemary, Vintage Merlot and Espresso Brava gourmet salts (boxed nicely with a set of small salt dishes and tiny little serving spoons).  I’m sure I’ve talked Fleur de sel and Kosher salt to death, but I also have an affinity for black and red Hawaiian sea salt and make a wonderful seasoning blend containing one, the other or both along with coarse white Hawaiian sea salt, minced ginger and garlic and crushed black pepper.  I also love diversely flavored and textured salts for different dishes. While these new tasty salt blends are still in the box, I’m already calculating the range of uses. Spanish Rosemary salt paired with boneless leg of lamb, anyone?

Last but by no means least is the Duckleberry Grunt bestowed upon me from the Westport Winery in Westport, Washington (http://www.westportwinery.org/). Touted as a blend of blueberry, huckleberry and Gewürztraminer (a type of white wine grape), this wine (and I don’t really “do” wine, so pardon my naiveté) was simply yummy. It was sweet and fruity and downright delicious, and I can’t wait to head back down to Westport and pick up a couple more bottles. Best of all, proceeds benefit the Gray’s Harbor Ducks Unlimited which is an waterfowl conservation organization that specifically works to protect and restore wetlands and wildlife habitat (a cause near and dear to my heart) .

Now, if only Santa had seen fit to slip a couple delectable Dungeness crabs in my stocking as well…

Here’s the recipe for my newly invented taters:

Black Truffle Scalloped Potatoes
3lbs potatoes
2T butter
2T flour
2c milk (or half and half, or 1c half and half and 1c milk)
1 clove minced garlic
1t kosher salt (or more to taste)
1/2t fresh ground black pepper (or more to taste)
1T Black truffle powder

1. Preheat oven to 350. Scrub potatoes. Do not peel. Slice thin with a mandolin slicer or in a food processor. Cook in large pot of boiling salted water for five minutes until tender. Carefully drain and place ½ in 2qt baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.
2. For sauce, melt 2T butter over medium heat. Lightly sautee garlic until fragrant.  Whisk 2T flour into melted butter. Add 2c milk/half and half, salt, pepper and truffle powder and whisk until smooth. Raise heat to med/high and whisk continuously until sauce is thickened. Immediately pour ½ sauce on potatoes in dish. Add second half of potatoes and top with remaining sauce.
3. Bake in oven covered 45-50 minutes until center potatoes are soft when pierced with a toothpick.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

My kitchen is haunted with ghosts of Christmas past. On the counter are five kinds of cookies, candy canes, assorted chocolates, a third of a German stollen, half of a really good homemade rum cake, and most of a fruit basket. There are even more in the refrigerator: half a ham, three kinds of cheese, part of a vegetable tray, salami, and a bunch of goodies left from our New Year’s Eve antipasto platter. The holidays may be gone but their leftovers are not.

Normally, I do not have a problem dealing with leftovers – a large pot of soup is a good way to get rid of all kinds of things. I am the Queen of Srevotfel, as my husband would say. (That’s leftovers spelled backwards). But, an army couldn’t finish all of these. I made an Alton Brown style quiche for dinner with some of the ham, heavy cream, fresh mushrooms and cherry tomatoes from the veggie tray, shredded “English cheddar with caramelized onions,” and a bit of nutmeg (from whole nutmeg grated with my NEW Microplane ® grater – thank you Santa). (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/refrigerator-pie-recipe/index.html)

I sealed up the rest of the ham and it’s bone separately and froze them for dinners future and the girls can have the fresh fruit, veggies and cheese and crackers in this week’s lunches (I always pack their lunches, as I think school lunches are overprocessed, overpriced, salty, fatty, non-nutritious trays of crap)

Now, I haven’t a clue what to do with all these cookies. Can I put them in a quiche?

Holiday delay

The holidays have always been about cooking and baking for me. I plan far in advance what I will make. I stew over my ten or so Cook’s Illustrated annuals and crack open my old-timey Betty Crocker Cooky Book. (I don't need bookmarks because "favorite" pages are always marked with a glob of dough or stuck together with molasses.)  I make my final selections, write out my shopping lists, and gather only the best ingredients – heavy cream, real butter and vanilla, Scharffenberger chocolate and cocoa, and new spices – especially new spices. I regularly restock spices this time of year. A good rule of thumb is six months for ground spices and twelve months for whole. (I grind most everything but cloves. My grinder doesn’t do them fine enough to suit me). This is another reason I love The Spice House. They sell herbs and spices in a variety of sizes from less than an ounce up to a pound.  This permits me to purchase what I will need for about a year. Oh, and I always buy a fresh can of baking powder regardless of the expiration date. There is nothing more disappointing than having ones baking powder fail (unless you really like hockey puck biscuits).

Because we spent Christmas visiting family out of state, my efforts this year were slightly delayed. We will celebrate our Christmas on New Year’s Day. So, today I baked Cook’s Illustrated double chocolate cookies, pfferneuse and gingerbread men. All three involve flour and, even worse, copious amounts of powdered sugar. This is a bad thing, as I am messy beyond compare when I cook. I frequently use my hands and often wipe them on my clothes without thinking (and I'm usually wearing black). I routinely spill, slop, splatter, and splash – activities that are only truly appreciated by the little dog who stands at the ready to clean up after me. Today I even turned on the mixer a little too high while adding cocoa/flour mixture. Poof! A fine dusty layer still coats my kitchen. All of this ensures I have just as must powered sugar on me as on the pfferneuse.

Photo by Susan Wenzel 

Nonetheless, everything is delicious. Now, if I could just find someone to finish the dishes.

Worth the wait

Photo by Susan Wenzel

The morning of December 23rd, my husband and I stopped by New Palace Polish Bakery in Hamtramck, Michigan (a Polish community within the city of Detroit) to buy Chruściki.

I first tasted “angel wings” years before when my husband took me to Hamtramck to visit some of his family still living in the area. His little Polish aunt presented us with cut crystal glasses of sweet wine and a platter piled high with this delicate holiday favorite to nibble while we chatted. So crispy and light, sweet Chruściki dough is irresistibly twisted into the “wing” shape, deep-fried golden and generously sprinkled with powdered sugar. Although I tried to restrain myself, Aunt Dorothy nonetheless noticed my enthusiastic consumption – I challenge anyone to stop at just one – and presented me with an entire box tied shut with string to take home.

Photo by Susan Wenzel 

Now wedged in with several dozen of my closest friends, I took a number and eagerly awaited my turn to order from an extensive selection of breads, cookies and other traditional Polish delicacies piled high in the glass cases lining the walls and front window of the store. As I listened to people order, some in English but many in their native Polish, I dreamed of ordering some of each – Seven Sisters layer cake akin to a huge petit four, braided Chalka bread topped with sweet crumbles, Christmas tree shaped Keks adorned with multicolored candied fruits, even several kinds of Perogi and locally made Kowalski sausage (a favorite of my husband's I occasionally have shipped overnight down here to Virginia Beach).

Over a half-hour later, I stepped up to the counter and asked for three pounds of Chruściki and, tempted by the handwritten menus displayed on the back wall, a pound slice of Makowiec (a traditional holiday jellyroll type yeast bread crammed full of rich black poppyseed filling) and two pounds of Kowalski holiday kielbasa perfect for Christmas breakfast.

As I left the warmth and sweet smells of the bakery with my string-tied white boxes, I looked forward to sharing one of my favorite Polish treats with my own family. 

One size fits all

I was wrapping presents today and noticed a good chunk of them are food items. Among them are chai spice blend and cocoa nibs (both from my favorite – The Spice House) as well as 100% Kona coffee for my mom, Virginia Diner peanuts for my grandparents (salted, Old Bay seasoned, and butter toffee) and dad (chocolate covered), little boxes of Godiva chocolates for the girls’ stockings, wine for my sister – heck, even the dog gets a 2 foot long rawhide bone. When I was a kid, Christmas Eve was filled with people stopping by and dropping off food gifts: cookies, candies, a ham, fresh baked bread, fruit baskets. (As I mentioned before, our neighbors here share gifts from their own kitchens: a rum cake, homemade trail mix, fudge, and brownies are often among the treats.)

Aside from fruitcake (I’ve tried to appreciate it, I really have), food gifts given this time of year are lucious, delectable and unique (and fattening, but we won’t go there) – not your typical run-of-the-mill grocery store items but special things we wouldn’t normally think to purchase. And, I’m apparently not the only one who gives food gifts. From Harry & David and Cheryl’s Cookies (lemon frosted…yumm) made in the town where my great-grandparents lived – Westerville, Ohio – to Hickory Farms and Omaha Steaks – these specialty food companies cite Chirstmas time as their busiest season.

Now, I could wax philosophical about breaking bread, but I prefer to think that the answer is much simpler. We want to give something to be enjoyed not something that will be returned the next day. We give what we love and we love food. Food is the any age, any sex, any holiday or religion, true “one size fits all” gift. (Personally, I’d rather have a couple jars of homemade jam over a waffle iron any day!)

Trader Joe's

The families in my neighborhood exchanges little gifts at Christmas, and I usually make an assortment of homemade cookies and candies for each family. This year I am not baking for them, and it’s all Joe’s fault – Trader Joe’s, that is.

I was introduced to TJ’s by my sister-in-law shortly after moving to California (yes, the one that mailed me spices) and soon became, well, enamored. Flatbread, tzatziki sauce and hummus, organic blue corn tortilla chips and fresh salsa, fresh organic fruits and veggies, scrumptious soups (tomato and roasted red pepper is a personal fav) and a plethora of other tasty items with ingredients I could both pronounce and recognize – I soon did most of my grocery shopping at TJ’s. I was bummed when I moved back to Virginia and realized the closest one to my house was an hour away. But, I was determined to have my cranberry crunch cereal, Thai peanut sauce and organic haricot vert (green beans) and would make the trek once a month, cooler and reusable shopping bags in tow, over the river and through the woods to Trader Joe’s I’d go. Imagine my elation when rumors started to swirl that we were getting one right here in town. Speculation abounded as to where it would go and exactly when it would open. TWO YEARS after the initial rumblings, I finally stood in a blocks-long line of fellow TJ’s aficionados waiting for my chance inside the grand opening.

Now I can go whenever I have the need. I try to stick to the necessities, but who can with such a fabulous range of unique items. For instance, I go in for whole wheat pita bread, strawberry kefir (a probiotic yogurt-type drink my kids love), quinoa (a delicious alternative to couscous or rice) and chocolate soymilk (another favorite of the kids) and walk out with five bags filled with sesame honey almonds, creamy corn and roasted red pepper soup, sparkling blueberry juice, Double Gloster cheese with chives and more – and forget the pita bread.

This is what happened to my traditional cookie gift. It went by the wayside when I saw the array of distinctive Christmas items at TJ’s. I couldn’t stop myself. My cart was soon filled with elegant tins of sipping chocolate, chocolate truffles, chocolate oranges, and peppermint Jo Jo’s (far tastier than Oreo’s, in my opinion). This year the neighbors are all getting an assortment of TJ-made chocolate treats. Somehow, I don’t imagine they will mind.

Double duty spices

I couldn’t help myself. I threw a handful of Williams-Sonoma mulling spices in a pan of simmering water on the stove.
Mmmmm…the house smells like Christmas now!