Monday, January 31, 2011

Taste of India

Jennifer and I went here a few years ago. We went again with another couple this past Saturday.

My memory of the first time going to Taste of India was that I was not impressed. The place always has long lines and people waiting to get in. My vague memory was that it was not worth it.

Upon returning, we arrived around 5pm and didn't have any difficulty getting a table to seat five plus one infant. There was a free appetizer which was potato pakora, and then we ordered. The pakora were just OK, and truthfully, I don't need to be eating battered, fried potatoes before my meal. But I had one anyway if only to sample the chutneys that came with it. (mint and tamarind) Jennifer often thinks you can get an idea of how good an Indian restaurant is by sampling the chutneys. The idea being if the chutney is spicy and fresh, then so will the main dishes. I don't think this always translates, but I do get high hopes when tasting delicious chutney before the main meal comes out. Once again though, there was nothing special about the chutney.

A nice element of the menu at Taste of India is that they actually have a spicy scale, similar to Thai restaurants in Seattle. And this scale went well with the dish that I ordered, Madras Chili Masala. I ordered it in "hottest" form and while it was not super hot, it had a good amount of heat and at least four whole dried chilies in the dish when it arrived. The smoky flavor of the chiles made the dish and I was happy to have ordered what I did. On a related note, I ordered my dish with paneer and I wished it had some veggies. Most dishes on the menu at Taste of India start with the least expensive variation of vegetables. Then they increase in price through other options like paneer, chicken, beef and lamb. It would seem to me that they should all have veggies in them, but you only get the veggies with the vegetable option. Jennifer asked for both cheese and veggies and received some cauliflower and some potatoes. Better than nothing I guess.

The garlic naan and onion kulcha were good, but I didn't really taste any other dishes, so I cannot comment. I think Jennifer was not super impressed with her dish, but she sampled mine and could see why I would like it.

On the other hand, service was fantastic, and we probably had a whole crew addressing the needs of our table. If you order Chai, it keeps coming, and the staff also keeps the your water topped off, so be aware if you don't want to drink too much Chai. Prices are a little higher than most Indian restaurants too, so be aware when going.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Tuna Fish Salad

This really is not a recipe type item. But when my mom-in-law was here recently she made tuna fish salad and I was surprised by the ingredients, or lack thereof. She only used mayonnaise and a little red wine vinegar. I was surprised.

For the longest time when I have made tuna fish salad, the dressing has essentially been tartar sauce. Which means I have almost always added chopped onion to the fish and then mixed mayonnaise and sweet pickle relish to finish it out. I was fairly happy with that for many years.

Recently I don't use the onion unless we have a suitable sized onion in the backyard. (You see, once I start cutting an onion, the whole thing goes into what I am making, so I try to avoid giant onions.) In recent years I have added Dijon mustard to the mix and sometimes I leave out the relish for some chopped hot peppers. (Pickled, from a jar.) This still adds some vinegar and gives some nice flavor to the dressing. I think I got the idea from the A&S Pork Store. I believe they had a sandwich called the "Hot Tuna" which I would order from time to time. That's the sort of sandwich restaurant you just don't find on the west coast.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Vegetarian Chili

From what I understand of the history of chili, is that it was mostly a meat dish and the beans were added later. Of course this wouldn't make sense with a vegetarian chili, so I rely heavily on beans.

Truth be told I used to be a big user of the Fantastic Foods vegetarian chili. We purchased it in bulk and always had at least a pint of it in the house for making chili on short notice. In the last few years I've moved away from using it because I just felt like I was not making my own. Even though I would modify it heavily, I never really adjusted the seasoning.

Before Jennifer went to sleep this morning she asked for something hearty for dinner. I didn't think potato leek soup was what she had in mind, so I decided to make some chili. We had some Light Life Tex Mex Grounds that I was looking to use, so that became the meat. I was thinking of leaving out a meat substitute, but I know we needed to use the grounds. I also thought of adding the new Light Life smoked sausage which we had recently acquired on sale.

I still don't do my own seasoning for the chili, although perhaps just a little bit. I mostly sauteed onion in olive oil and then added some spinach. (This is my new effort to hide spinach or kale in any meal where I can hide it.) I then put fajita seasoning on it which I buy from World Spice. I added the grounds at this point and then some of my pickled peppers from the garden, about two jalapenos worth. Then I added three cans of beans, one each of red kidney, pinto and black. I added a large can of hominy and then a large can of crushed tomatoes and let it simmer a bit. Before simmering it had a little too much tomato bite, but that mellowed out over time. I also added perhaps a tablespoon or two of Zane and Zach's Chipotle Sauce. I felt like my weak PNW jalapenos really didn't add too much heat or flavor, so it needed a little kick. I could have used a dried chipotle, but I really didn't think of it.

When plating I put a little cheese on top of mine. Jennifer likes sour cream and cheese. Although I think that has as much to do with dropping the heat of the peppers as it does her enjoying dairy products. If we have sweet onions in the garden, I'll often use one in the chili and reserve some chopped raw for garnish.

Skyway Bar and Grill, Zig Zag Oregon

Typing the heading of this entry made me realize I don't include locations of the restaurants when I post. From now forward, I'll only post the location if it is outside of Seattle.

After climbing Mount Hood, we were looking to get some food because getting back to Seattle around 9pm was not going to be conducive to eating at home. Driving through Government Camp didn't show anything interesting and we decided to give the Skyway Bar and Grill a try. From the outside it looks like a typical dive type BBQ joint. But upon entering we found it had more character and some Oregon style.

The waiter brought out the menus and we looked them over for a while before he returned. He then told us of the soup of the day, and explained that all menu items were made in house. (Or "from scratch" as he said.) The restaurant smokes their own salmon and cures their own bacon and pastrami as well. After that description we needed more time. House cured bacon sounded delicious, but a BLT wasn't the appropriate dinner after what we just did. BBQ items sounded good too. What should we do?

I was lured to the Reuben sandwich due to the house cured pastrami and scratch made sauerkraut and dressing, in addition to the restaurant's use of Painted Hills natural beef. We decided to get a large mac & cheese for the table with bacon in it to get an taste of both of those dishes. Matt got pulled pork with mashers and the beets. Josh opted for a brisket sandwich with no sides. I also got a side of baked beans.

The food was delicious. The flavors were fairly standard, but brighter and better. And I would definitely recommend the Skyway to people visiting Mount Hood or heading out to Eastern Oregon from the Portland area. Heck, I'd recommend them even if the food was fairly average because I think it is good to patronize a place that does everything in house. (I believe the waiter said the only things they don't make are the cheese, milk and butter.) They even had BBQ tofu as a vegetarian option not often seen in a BBQ joint! The one complaint I have about Skyway was our waiter. While I found him authentic and enthusiastic about the food he had some service issues. Maybe it was due to it being a crowded Saturday night? Anyway, he initially brought out the wrong dish for Matt and he kept promising to bring some samples of BBQ sauce that were never delivered.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Cassoulet

I had been craving a hearty bean soup. Jennifer and I are usually makers of lentil soups and other varieties, but I wanted a bean soup. While at Trader Joe's I picked up three cans of Cannellini beans with no specific plan for them. When I got home I realized we had nothing planned for dinner and thought about making a white bean soup. Then it came to me about making a cassoulet.

I did a quick search of the Internet to find a vegetarian cassoulet recipe. A bunch came up and I searched through them to find which I had the ingredients for and which I could make quickly. This ruled out recipes with dried beans. I noticed a few were similar, and I believe this is because the recipe was taken from Gourmet Magazine. However, I never saw it directly from the magazine and used the original magazine version modified from here. (Meaning I didn't add the tomato products.) It just so happened that the recipe called for three cans of beans and that is what I had purchased earlier in the day.

Everything else we either had in the house (carrots, celery) or in the yard (leeks, parsley, thyme.) Prep time was fairly quick and the cooking time was short enough as well. However, I think of cassoulet as being a thick dish; a stew rather than a soup. I found that with the one quart of broth (I used mushroom,) that I had to simmer it with the lid off to get the consistency that I desired. The first portion of the simmer was with the lid half off. I skipped the bread crumb topping as we did not have a suitable bread in the house, and I didn't really feel like it would add much nutritionally.

In addition, I thought it would be great to add some kale, but we didn't have any leafy greens in the house, so I skipped it. Traditionally cassoulet is always made with meat, but we opted not to have any meat substitutes. I thought some Fakin' Bacon would have worked well to add some smokiness to the dish. With all the beans the dish hardly needs more protein, but I did feel like it lacked something. Jennifer had a vegetarian version at Tilth last year where I believe they smoked the beans in a smokehouse first before making the dish. I don't have that capacity, so it didn't happen. I ended up adding a little dijon mustard to my bowl when eating it. Otherwise I found it to be a little too plain. Perhaps the modification the other blogger did adding tomatoes would have done the trick. But by no means would I be calling it cassoulet at that point. Even still, it was a creamy, hearty dish to have on a rainy winter day in Seattle.



Friday, January 7, 2011

The Family Donut

The other day coming back from our walk we passed by the Family Donut. It is our local doughnut shop and one of the best in Seattle. And to me Seattle is a doughnut town. Perhaps it is because of the coffee culture? There are several good independent doughnut shops in Seattle including a vegan one. While I do enjoy a good doughnut, I do not eat them very often as they are not usually the best food for you. That and I rarely eat breakfast outside of my house. Doughnuts and restaurant breakfasts are the food you eat when you have out of town guests.

You need only to look on Yelp for the insight that The Family Donut is a good shop. The important thing is that I think they make the best apple fritter in Seattle. Which pretty much means I think they make the best apple fritter I have ever had. The apple fritter has chunks of apple (which many others lack) and is cooked well done, crispy on the outside and nice and soft on the inside. If and when I get an item from The Family Donut the fritter is it. Although I do supplement it with another doughnut at times.

By the time we were walking in the shop the other day it was late afternoon. They were sold out of apple fritters. I wasn't having a doughnut, but Jennifer wanted a fritter. She settled for their enormous bear claw. The bear claw is nice, but not on the same level as the fritter. It is essentially a jelly doughnut shaped like a (grizzly) bear claw with chunky apple cinnamon filling, much like an apple pie filling. It is good, but not great like the fritter.

Their other doughnuts are good too, but for the life of me I could not tell you why I would prefer a jelly from Family Donut to that of Top Pot or MightyO. Perhaps I wouldn't. But their cake and standard doughnuts are good too. I feel they are similar to satisfying the crave that Krispy Kreme does, but I wouldn't say they are like Krispy Kreme doughnuts. They are less expensive too in most cases. Speaking of cases, they usually have boxes of day olds for $3/dozen. That is a pretty good deal in these parts.

Not related to their doughnuts, but back when Jennifer was drinking coffee, this was not a place she liked to go. She is somewhat of a coffee snob, and does not enjoy the coffee served at The Family Donut. Since I am not a coffee drinker, I'm going to guess and say their drip coffee is more like Dunkin Donuts and less like Starbucks.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Garlic

The garlic I planted back in October has started to sprout. Of course, just in time for the cold snap we've had for the last week. Some are already two inches high, but most are just poking through the surface. I planted more this year (20?) than I have in the past hoping for a great crop next year. Last year's crop didn't fare too well and we only had a week or two of garlic before we had to start buying from the store again. It looks like all have not sprouted, but I'm hoping this is just because of temps and planting rather than squirrels running off with the cloves. I actually laid chicken wire down on the bed to prevent squirrels from digging them up as they have a tendency to do.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Thai Fusion Bistro

I want to specify that this is the restaurant in Thornton Place, and not any other restaurant with a similar name. And while I did not scour the menu, I found no reason for the restaurant to have fusion in the title. The dishes seemed to be straightforward Thai.

We decided to have dinner out on New Year's Eve because we didn't have much in the pantry and many stores were closed, so buying new/more groceries seemed a little unlikely. We opted to head to the mall where we could get cheap Thai from the food court. But when we arrived at the mall things were looking a little closed. By the time we reached the food court, we were told they were closing in five minutes and we opted to leave. Jennifer remembered that the Thai Fusion Bistro was across the street at the apartment complex and we headed over.

It was crowded and we got the last table. Fortunately they were serving a regular menu and not some type of holiday menu. Jennifer was excited and ordered Pad Woonsen which is a dish she likes but often does not see on the menu in Thai restaurants. I went with the Pad See Ew. This restaurant uses a 1-4 heat scale and Jennifer ordered a two due to the fact they had chile sauces to bring to the table. I ordered a three because I usually order one under the top because I know I will add chile at the table.

Before the food came out our waitress brought over a plate with four containers on it. I was in luck! My favorite sauce, the soy/chile (with lime) was there. There was also crushed dried chile, pickled chiles (in vinegar) and a Sriracha type sauce that tasted "house made." I was immediately pleased. Our food came out not too long after considering how packed the restaurant was. I tasted mine before applying any hot sauces and was pleased. Both Jennifer and I found our dishes to have more flavor than many other Thai restaurants we have visited in Seattle. The Pad See Ew was distinctive and makes we want to come back for Pad Kee Mao which in many restaurants are prepared too similar to detect a difference.

I, of course applied copious amounts of hot sauces to my dish anyway because I love them. Jennifer found the "two" to be just hot enough and only used a small amount of the Sriracha because I raved about the bright flavors and the "homemade" taste.

While I love a good fried tofu, I have to say that I was interested in the tofu they prepared for our dishes. Instead of deep frying the tofu in cubes, it appears they fry it in sheets and then cut it up. While I imagine this to be healthier (with less fried surfaces) it was not the wonderful cubed fried tofu I am used to. I also wonder if fresh tofu is an option as I did not specify fried when I ordered.

Also the prices were reasonable and we enjoyed the place. Thai Fusion Bistro may have become our "go to" Thai restaurant for now.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Hot milk and mini wheats

I admit, I like cold cereal. I probably like hot cereal better, but rarely find the time to make it. We don't own a microwave, and instant oatmeal isn't really worth making. This usually means 5-20 minutes of stove top preparation to have a hot breakfast. I'm the type of person who likes to get breakfast out of the way and get on with my day. So usually I opt for cold cereal. Although lately I cannot get enough of Bob's Red Mill Right Stuff Cereal.

Possibly my favorite cold cereal type is mini wheats. I say type because I am currently eating some Kellogg's variation that is made with oats. I also like Wheetabix and their mini variants. Although typically I eat the Trader Joe's versions, my favorite is usually the Kashi Cinnamon Harvest.

Some time last winter I thought it would be nice to heat milk before applying it to mini wheats. After that thought I had seen a commercial from Kellogg's advertise this method of serving to mothers. I got around to trying it the other evening as this type of cereal is just as good of a snack as it is a breakfast. I was disappointed. The hot milk made the cereal instantly soggy. And the warmed milk didn't really add anything. I don't know what I was expecting or hoping for, but it will probably be a while before I try this again.