Blue Palate

It’s probably really bad blog etiquette to promise to post something and then fail to do so. A few posts ago I wrote that I would share a recipe for Kapustnica, a holiday soup from Slovakia, in my Christmas Day post. Not only did I not share a the recipe, I didn’t even write a Christmas Day post.

Excuse? I was cooking, of course. I didn’t host Christmas dinner this year, thank goodness, but agreed to bring an appetizer, side and dessert to my sister’s house. My agenda for the 24th and 25th included preparing a Christmas Eve dinner of stuffed chicken breasts, whipped sweet potatoes and sauteed greens for my husband Peter and I, as well as a lemon cheesecake, cornbread stuffing (I made the cornbread), and a vegetable platter for the Christmas Day festivities. It was all lovely, but I didn’t get a chance to write my blog post and I was left with severe kitchen fatigue.

As for the Kapustnica recipe, I will rely on my husband Peter’s Christmas Day post in his blog. He made the soup this year, and can proudly add it to the half-dozen or so recipes he can make from scratch. As for kitchen fatigue, here are a few solutions for anyone who starts feeling dizzy at the sight of a spatula this time of year:

Crock pot meals - Did you know you can roast a whole chicken in a crock pot? There are hundreds of recipes for the Crock Pot (or slow cooker for the brand wary), most of which require throwing a few ingredients in the crock and waiting 6-8 hours. My favorite is sliced onions, bell peppers, two boneless, skinless chicken breasts and a jar of marinara. Serve with pasta or rice. Simple, cheap, delicious.

Take-and-bake pizza - My friend Carol reminded me of this one. Papa Murphy’s or any other fresh take-and-bake is far better than frozen in my opinion. And there are coupons everywhere - we found some in the Sunday paper. All you need is $8.99 and a hot oven.

Amy’s canned soup - The best canned soup ever. Not the cheapest, but way more filling than Campbell’s. Open, pour into bowl, heat in microwave. No spatula required. Serve with crackers or bread.

Local fast food joint - I don’t recommend fast food from the average establishment, but there are a few that are Blue Palate worthy especially in times of kitchen fatigue. In Portland, I recommend Zach’s Shack and Burgerville. California has In-n-Out. Almost every town has a locally owned drive-in, burger shack, or taco cart. Fast food has its place. As long as you don’t eat chili cheese fries more than a couple times a month your arteries should be fine.

I hope everyone had a wonderful, food-filled Christmas! I’m sorry I didn’t post, but my family will agree the cheesecake was well worth it.

Periodically in Blue Palate I will share recipes - my Blue Palate Specials. Whether they’re old favorites or new experiments, they will always be affordable and usually include healthy adaptations. My first Blue Palate Special falls into the experimentation category. While Hungarian Mushroom Soup is simple to make and one of my all time favorites, my first attempt was this morning, (again) inspired by the blanket of white outside my kitchen door.

I perused several cookbooks and searched my two favorite cooking websites for recipes, but surprisingly the only source I could find for a true Hungarian Mushroom Soup was my trusty Moosewood Cookbook. I decided to make a few adaptations just to make up for it and here’s what I came up with:

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

2 tsp butter
1 large onion, sliced thinly
1 lb white button or crimini mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp sweet paprika (not spicy or smoked)
1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp salt, more to taste
Juice from 1/2 small lemon
2 tbsp cooking sherry (optional)
3 tbsp flour
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup milk (whole or low-fat)
1/2 cup sour cream
ground black pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a medium soup pot. Add onions and saute until soft. Add mushrooms, saute 2-3 minutes. Add paprika, dill, and salt. Stir until vegetables are coated. Add lemon juice and sherry and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Gradually stir in flour, one tablespoon at a time. Add broth and reduce heat. Let simmer for 15 minutes.

Coat the mushrooms and onions with the spices.

Slowly stir in the milk and black pepper. Add more salt if needed. Add sour cream and whisk, making sure not to let the soup come to a boil. Heat at low temp until hot. Serve with crackers (I love Ak-Mak) or crusty bread.

We had our soup with Ak-Mak crackers. It would go great with a hunk of crusty bread and butter, too.

I like this recipe because it’s not too rich. Some versions leave you feeling like you just drank a pint of heavy cream. Rather than cream being the dominant flavor, the savory mushrooms stand out an you’re allowed to experience the subtlety of paprika and dill. Like most soups, this one was better the second day.

Of my first three blog posts, two have started with descriptions of the weather. It’s what a lot of people talk about in Portland, and it makes sense for weather to be a theme in a blog about food. The weather often determines what we cook, where we go out to eat and what we crave.

My plan today was to finish the last of my Christmas shopping, but we woke up to this:

And immediately all my favorite winter time meals were racing through my head. Lentil soup with crusty bread. Spicy chili sprinkled with cheddar cheese. Stewed chicken with fennel, carrots and white beans. I brought the cookbooks to bed and made a shopping list while we drank our morning coffee.

Winter meals are all about comfort and warmth. Peter talked lovingly about kapustnica (CAP-oos-nit-sa), a traditional Slovak Christmas soup of smoked pork sausage, sauerkraut and potatoes. We made it a couple of years ago at my mother’s with canned sauerkraut and Safeway’s sorry excuse for smoked sausage, pathetic compared to my in-law’s version with homemade kraut and authentic Eastern European sausage. We’ll try again - maybe Otto’s Sausage Kitchen will save Christmas this year. (I’ll publish the recipe in my Christmas day post.)

Tomorrow is Sunday and expected to be the worst day of the entire, week-long bout of winter weather. The cabin fever has obviously made us crazy - our plan is to brave the storm for a walk to Peacock Lane, Portland’s famed street of quaint, ornately decorated homes. It’s about three miles from our house. Along the way we’ll be stopping by a few coffee shops and bars for snacks and happy hour drinks (hot toddies, anyone?) and, of course, Zach’s Shack for dogs and brew. Hot dogs - the ultimate winter comfort food.

I was on my Mac dashboard using the dictionary widget to look up the word foodie (def: a person with a particular interest in food; a gourmet). A message on my Epicurious widget caught my eye:

“Shopping for a foodie friend? Epicurious has found 16 gorgeous gourmet goodies for everyone on your list  ——– and they’re all under $100.”

I’m not usually a fan of food gift baskets, unless they’re filled with wine. But I couldn’t resist seeing what Epicurious had to offer. (If you are unfamiliar with Epicurious, it is one of the best recipe sites ever.) The site featured a slide show of 16 gift basket of varying contents. Some were undeniably gorgeous and delicious looking, especially the Spices and Herbs tins from TSP Spices, the only one that was somewhat reasonably priced at $42. (Mom, Dad…hint.)

The Microbrew Beer Bucket was my favorite, but I almost blew a keg when I saw the price. $70 for six bottles of beer and some snacks? I challenged myself to make a Beer Bucket for less than half that price.

I love sampling microbrews and am a sucker for markets that let you buy a six pack sampler (Woodstock Wine and Deli and Otto’s Sausage Kitchen in my neighborhood.) This is not the cheapest way to buy beer, but a great way to get to know some great beers without investing in a whole six pack of one variety. Last time I was at Woodstock Wine and Deli, they charged around $1.60 to $2.00 a bottle, with 10% off if you buy six. They had some great snacks there, but you could spend way less on gifty snacks at your local grocery bulk section or Trader Joe’s.

In my DIY Beer Bucket, I substituted salami and crackers for jerky. (To me, jerky is road trip food not beer food.) You could use any kind of snack that goes well with beer. The nice thing about DIY gift baskets is the opportunity to personalize according to the giftee’s taste. Here’s what I came up with:

• One small aluminum bucket from local hardware store - $8.00
• Six 12 oz bottles of microbrew beer, averaging around $1.80 each with 10% off - $9.72
• Chocolate Covered Pretzels, I like Trader Joe’s brand - $2.99
• 1/4 pound salted nuts. Peppered cashews or Tamari almonds from the bulk section - $2.50
• Dry salami. Trader Joe’s salami is GREAT, and amazing with beer. - $4.29
• Crackers. Milton’s Brand come in a long box that would fit nicely in a bucket. - $3.99

Total - $31.49, less than half of the $70 Gourmet Gift Baskets charges for their Beer Bucket. You could knock even more off the cost by using home made snacks and goodies. Plus, you can make your bucket more personal, use beer from local brewers and support your local vendors. Epicurious might want to stick to publishing great recipes.

It’s snowing today in Portland, a once or twice a year phenomenon. When inclement weather strikes I go wildly domestic and get a strong urge to bake. Snow on the road meant I had to find a recipe that didn’t require a trip to the store. Cookies? No chocolate chips or raisins. Brownies, at least the ones I like to make, required more than the stick and a half of butter I had on hand. I had a box of expired scone mix I bought in California a year ago and left at my parents. My stepmother returned it to me when they visited for Thanksgiving. They obviously don’t bake scones. But old scones didn’t sound appetizing.

A half bag of chopped pecans, remnant from a great Thanksgiving pie, gave me the answer. Coffee cake. Warm coffee cake with a cup of hot joe on a snowy day sounded damn near close to absolute perfection.

Coffee cake with strudel topping was the first thing I learned to bake and I remember making it for my family when I was 10. That page in our old Joy of Cooking is forever encrusted with brown sugar and stained with butter.

About 20 minutes ago we started to smell the cinnamon. I don’t know the exact word for when you first start to smell a dish that’s baking in the oven. That first whiff of chocolate in brownies or apples in a pie. I like to call it “breaking.”

It was a rare sunny, December afternoon in Portland, Oregon, and my husband and I walked to Zach’s Shack for Chicago Dogs and beer. As we walked I talked about why I love hot dogs. Those close to me know I love healthy cooking and eating. I eat whole wheat pasta, I love just about every vegetable, and I don’t often cook red meat. But there are few things that satisfy me more than a beef frank slathered in mustard, relish, onions and a big pickle spear nestled in a cloud-white bun, just the way Zach’s Shack makes them. How could a self-described foodie and health nut crave something so textbook junk food?

Thus Blue Palate was born. Blue Palate is a blog for low-key foodies, like me. It’s not that healthy can’t also be delicious and affordable and low-key. I believe great food is about more than simply the quality or origin of ingredients and the price one pays for a meal. A great food experience is about much more than lighting and place settings and the perfect wine pairing. Great food can be accessible and affordable to anyone.

Blue Palate is for anyone who believes a great food experience doesn’t have to take place in an expensive restaurant. It’s the blog for folks who secretly enjoy the occasional mac and cheese from a box, or think the some of the best food is served from a 5th wheel trailer in a parking lot. We’ll explore the best of Portland (and beyond, when possible) cheap eats, food events, the best inexpensive recipes and the deliciousness found in everyday, simple meals.

I invite you to share your own experiences and recommendations. Blue Palate: the blog for the low-key foodie.