The cat is out of the bag!
The Stumbling Goat Bistro calls itself Seattle's Best Kept Secret on their website. I'm inclined to agree as many people who I talk to about the Stumbling Goat have never even heard of it before. Yet, the restaurant is probably one of the best in Seattle. One of the best I have been to for sure.
Jennifer and I went over a week ago to celebrate coming to term. And perhaps a sort of Valentine's Day dinner as well. We called it the last time we may dine out before the baby. We had attempted to go on Friday February 11, but the place was full, and we were not surprised. We came back mid-week and early and had no problem getting a table. The last time we were here was for my birthday, possibly a year earlier, or perhaps two. I don't recall us making reservations, and we sat at one of the bistro tables near the bar.
Sitting at the bar waiting for a table, turned us onto something we did not previously know about The Stumbling Goat. They have great cocktails. This time around Jennifer wasn't imbibing, but I couldn't resist and got the Kraken. This was presumably made with Kraken rum and turned out to be something like a dark and stormy on steroids. (I do remember from the cocktail menu that molasses was added.) The bartender concocted a mocktail for Jennifer. They have a really nice margarita here, but damp and cold of February in Seattle didn't lend itself to that particular drink.
Jennifer ordered two dishes off the menu, while both of mine came from the specials. Jennifer started with mushroom soup and had the winter truffle risotto for the main course. Both were good, but neither really suited my fancy. I had parsnip soup as my appetizer and rabbit as the main course. I really enjoyed the soup. The rabbit was great, but perhaps not exactly what I wanted that evening. It came with roasted root veggies that were also fantastic.
After that we decided to stay for dessert. Jennifer got the chocolate pudding and I had the apple cobbler. I don't recall tasting Jennifer's pudding, but she thought it delicious. The biscuit on the cobbler was seasoned with sage, and absolutely wonderful. I think it was the first time I ever enjoyed biscuit and fruit equally on a cobbler. (I'm usually in it for the fruit.)
A week after I discussed the trip with a few friends. One had never heard of the restaurant, while the other was a fan. And who wouldn't be? The Stumbling Goat is quintessential Seattle, from the name, to all the locally sourced in season foods.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Mac and Cheese
I'm not really good at making mac and cheese. I have never used a recipe, and always just make a cheese sauce that starts as a roux. Often the sauce is too thick to make a nice mac and cheese. Always, there is not enough sauce for the amount of pasta I make.
Last weekend Jennifer went to sleep saying she didn't want more soup for dinner. She wanted to eat with a fork. Looking through the pantry I found enough ingredients to make mac and cheese. Well, at least the way I make it.
While I did not try anything different in the making of the sauce, I did a few things that may not be so traditional with mac and cheese. One is that I added broccoli, which is a nice nutritional addition. And everybody knows that broccoli and cheese are friends. The other is that I added hominy. This was inspired by Beecher's Santa Fe Mac and Cheese, a dish I had never actually tasted. I used Teasdale Gold hominy which I thought had a wonderful flavor. This addition of hominy was also spurred by my recent use of hominy in chili and I thought I should try to use hominy more.
I used a reduced fat habanero cheddar from Cabot. There was at least one issue with using this cheese, and perhaps two. The known issue is that the mac and cheese had a little too much of the heat that has no flame. I recommended to Jennifer to add sour cream to hers to help quell the heat. Still edible in my opinion, but I'm different than most people. The second issue comes from the fact that the cheese was reduced fat. In an effort to stretch a half pound of cheese in the sauce over a half pound of pasta and a can of hominy, I used a lot of milk in the sauce which the cheese did not melt so smoothly into. Not sure if this was my overuse of milk, or the nature of the cheese. Anyway, in typical fashion there really was not enough sauce, but a gratin makes everything more delicious and attractive.
Last weekend Jennifer went to sleep saying she didn't want more soup for dinner. She wanted to eat with a fork. Looking through the pantry I found enough ingredients to make mac and cheese. Well, at least the way I make it.
While I did not try anything different in the making of the sauce, I did a few things that may not be so traditional with mac and cheese. One is that I added broccoli, which is a nice nutritional addition. And everybody knows that broccoli and cheese are friends. The other is that I added hominy. This was inspired by Beecher's Santa Fe Mac and Cheese, a dish I had never actually tasted. I used Teasdale Gold hominy which I thought had a wonderful flavor. This addition of hominy was also spurred by my recent use of hominy in chili and I thought I should try to use hominy more.
I used a reduced fat habanero cheddar from Cabot. There was at least one issue with using this cheese, and perhaps two. The known issue is that the mac and cheese had a little too much of the heat that has no flame. I recommended to Jennifer to add sour cream to hers to help quell the heat. Still edible in my opinion, but I'm different than most people. The second issue comes from the fact that the cheese was reduced fat. In an effort to stretch a half pound of cheese in the sauce over a half pound of pasta and a can of hominy, I used a lot of milk in the sauce which the cheese did not melt so smoothly into. Not sure if this was my overuse of milk, or the nature of the cheese. Anyway, in typical fashion there really was not enough sauce, but a gratin makes everything more delicious and attractive.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Sweet Mustard
I made mustard last year for the first time. It is really quite easy, although I don't know if it is cost effective. Not to mention, I just made a standard "brown" mustard and it was plenty spicy.
After making my whole wheat pretzels, I searched some local grocery stores for a good sweet mustard. I think they might have what I was looking for at the Bavarian Meats Deli in the Market, but I didn't have time to get there. Unfortunately Seattle just is not New Jersey when it comes to mustard shopping and the choices were fairly limited. Whole Foods had some interesting choices, but I wasn't willing to spend over five dollars for a jar of mustard. So I looked at some ingredients and decided to make my own.
Due to my current no recipes lifestyle, I couldn't figure out what recipe I used to make mustard in the past. I once again did an online search and it started coming back to me. Most mustard recipes call for soaking the seeds in vinegar overnight before preparing the mustard. I had an hour. I decided to give it a go anyway. A sweet mustard at Whole Foods used balsamic vinegar. I used that instead of my normal cider vinegar. I added a touch of red wine and rice vinegar too, as I was slightly afraid of the mustard tasting too much like a balsamic vinaigrette. After soaking for barely and hour I put the concoction in a food processor and started to mill. I added about two tablespoons of molasses and continued to add more and more balsamic vinegar until it got to a consistency that I thought correct. Oh, and I also added 2-3 teaspoons of brown sugar. I wasn't super happy with it, but when I ate it with the pretzel at the party, it went well together. Good thing too, because we brought about a cup of it home.
After making my whole wheat pretzels, I searched some local grocery stores for a good sweet mustard. I think they might have what I was looking for at the Bavarian Meats Deli in the Market, but I didn't have time to get there. Unfortunately Seattle just is not New Jersey when it comes to mustard shopping and the choices were fairly limited. Whole Foods had some interesting choices, but I wasn't willing to spend over five dollars for a jar of mustard. So I looked at some ingredients and decided to make my own.
Due to my current no recipes lifestyle, I couldn't figure out what recipe I used to make mustard in the past. I once again did an online search and it started coming back to me. Most mustard recipes call for soaking the seeds in vinegar overnight before preparing the mustard. I had an hour. I decided to give it a go anyway. A sweet mustard at Whole Foods used balsamic vinegar. I used that instead of my normal cider vinegar. I added a touch of red wine and rice vinegar too, as I was slightly afraid of the mustard tasting too much like a balsamic vinaigrette. After soaking for barely and hour I put the concoction in a food processor and started to mill. I added about two tablespoons of molasses and continued to add more and more balsamic vinegar until it got to a consistency that I thought correct. Oh, and I also added 2-3 teaspoons of brown sugar. I wasn't super happy with it, but when I ate it with the pretzel at the party, it went well together. Good thing too, because we brought about a cup of it home.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Honey Whole Wheat Pretzels
I had a craving for whole wheat pretzels. Soft home made style pretzels. Jennifer is usually the pretzel maker in the house, but she makes a standard AP flour pretzel. (And they are good.)
Since the Super Bowl was this Sunday, I figured it would be a good opportunity to attempt some whole wheat pretzels. I searched the Internet for recipes and wasn't too pleased. Most recipes had a combo of cake flour and whole wheat. Some had weird ingredients (like added wheat gluten.) I thought I settled on one until I realized they wanted you to make the dough in a bread machine!?! I searched again. Then I found this recipe. This would be my starting point for home made whole wheat pretzels.
First, there was no way I was going to use Splenda as a sweetener. I immediately changed that to honey. Second, I doubled the recipe as it didn't seem this recipe would make enough. Third, I made the recipe with only whole wheat flour and no cake or AP flour. And finally, I substituted the baking soda/water dredge with a true boil, like a real pretzel.
One issue I had when combining the ingredients was that our honey was a bit old and crystallized. I'm not sure if this was the reason, but I had to add a fair amount of water to the dough to get it to stick together. I probably added a little too much as it became quite sticky. I let it rise in the oven for an hour without modifying it any further. Assembly went well enough as I created very home made looking pretzels. And soon I was boiling the pretzels. I used The Joy of Cooking as a guide to the boiling. Although the four cups of water was fairly low in the pot I used, and it was hard to tell when the pretzels started to float. So I may not have boiled them as long as I would have liked. Also, the water level was even lower when I made the second batch, which didn't make things easy.
Due to the all whole wheat nature of the pretzels, I also felt it was hard to tell when they were "brown" and done baking. I pretty much took them out at the end of the eight minutes, but they may have been able to go longer. I tasted one right out of the oven and thought it was delicious. I do feel they need a good sweet mustard, which we didn't have in the house. I used a little course ground mustard and that wasn't exactly right for it.
They were gobbled up at the super bowl party so I guess others liked them. Not really sure as I didn't do any polling. Unfortunately they got a little soggy overnight and were not nearly as good as when the first one came out of the oven the previous day. Jennifer's comment is that she thought nothing should be made entirely out of whole wheat flour. Oh well.
Since the Super Bowl was this Sunday, I figured it would be a good opportunity to attempt some whole wheat pretzels. I searched the Internet for recipes and wasn't too pleased. Most recipes had a combo of cake flour and whole wheat. Some had weird ingredients (like added wheat gluten.) I thought I settled on one until I realized they wanted you to make the dough in a bread machine!?! I searched again. Then I found this recipe. This would be my starting point for home made whole wheat pretzels.
First, there was no way I was going to use Splenda as a sweetener. I immediately changed that to honey. Second, I doubled the recipe as it didn't seem this recipe would make enough. Third, I made the recipe with only whole wheat flour and no cake or AP flour. And finally, I substituted the baking soda/water dredge with a true boil, like a real pretzel.
One issue I had when combining the ingredients was that our honey was a bit old and crystallized. I'm not sure if this was the reason, but I had to add a fair amount of water to the dough to get it to stick together. I probably added a little too much as it became quite sticky. I let it rise in the oven for an hour without modifying it any further. Assembly went well enough as I created very home made looking pretzels. And soon I was boiling the pretzels. I used The Joy of Cooking as a guide to the boiling. Although the four cups of water was fairly low in the pot I used, and it was hard to tell when the pretzels started to float. So I may not have boiled them as long as I would have liked. Also, the water level was even lower when I made the second batch, which didn't make things easy.Due to the all whole wheat nature of the pretzels, I also felt it was hard to tell when they were "brown" and done baking. I pretty much took them out at the end of the eight minutes, but they may have been able to go longer. I tasted one right out of the oven and thought it was delicious. I do feel they need a good sweet mustard, which we didn't have in the house. I used a little course ground mustard and that wasn't exactly right for it.
They were gobbled up at the super bowl party so I guess others liked them. Not really sure as I didn't do any polling. Unfortunately they got a little soggy overnight and were not nearly as good as when the first one came out of the oven the previous day. Jennifer's comment is that she thought nothing should be made entirely out of whole wheat flour. Oh well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)