birthday wishes for Eugène!

the mister's great-uncle is turning 90, so i made him a scarf and a special lunch.

a few weeks ago, my mother-in-law gave us a monster pile of lovage. and i am a sucker for lovage. with that ingredient, the menu was born. i made a simple pesto, only adding a smidge of garlic because granny's 96 year old belly has a difficult time with it, using lovage and almonds and oil. since i made the lovage a few weeks before the birthday gathering, i went ahead and stashed it in the freezer until we needed it.







the original plan was to make individual fish packets with potato, tomato, and the pesto. but my mother-in-law offered a huge side of salmon she had in the freezer. yes, please! since my father-in-law loves pommes de terre au lait (mashed potatoes) and is not a huge fan of neither fish nor pesto, i thought i should make him happy. so! mashed potatoes it was! the mister used the food mill, which is his dad's preferred method.


in my family we smash and whip.  however, neither family is shy with the butter.

for the apero, we served roasted mushrooms stuffed with cheese.




the main course featured the mashed potaters, steamed broccoli, and salmon a la lovage.

the mister beautifully sliced a tomato, and i placed that in the baking dish with the salmon, and then added more tomatoes. i pesto'd it and flipped over the top layer of tomatoes.



it baked beautifully for about 35 minutes at 190 degrees C.


and then, of course, there was dessert.


chocolate stout cake
1 cup stout
1 cup butter
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

i made a chocolate stout cake with strawberry filling, a ganache, and a vanilla buttercream for a pop of colour.

lis-bonne! food inspired by the capital of portugal

the mister and i just spent 4 glorious days in portugal--a welcome place to thumb one's nose at the winter (of course, the locals all thought it was cold and were bundled up, and all the museums had space heaters going... made us laugh)--and now that we're home, it's time to do some kitchen exploration.

we stayed at a welcoming guesthouse that provided us with a delightful breakfast every morning--fresh fruit! (FRESH FRUIT!) breakfast cakes! coffee! juice! cheese! eggs! yogurt! so many choices. this morning, waking up in our own bed, i decided i wanted to make us something warm and comforting. i usually make us a healthy bowl of oatmeal, but we we were out of milk. we did have a few apples laying around... and some orange juice... and one pot of yogurt.... and that's how i found myself making us a delightful breakfast bread (the mister insists on calling it cake) to warm our bones.

i gave the raisins a healthy soak in some orange juice. in the trusty kitchenaide, i creamed the butter and sugars, slowly added an egg, and the yogurt. smittenkitchen's apple muffins call for a cup of yogurt. our pots are a little over half a cup. i supplemented the rest of the cup with orange juice from the raisins, and a splash more for kicks. i combined all the dry goods and slowly added them to the batter.


113ish g butter
a little less than 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup sucre complet du canne, divided in 2
1 egg
1 pot of yogurt (i used honey greek)
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
lots of cinnamon and a shake or two of cloves
2 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1/4ish cup raisins
orange juice
small handful of pecans

i oiled a bread pan, poured the batter in, and sprinkled a mixture of the rest of the sucre complet, pecans, and a healthy few shakes of cinnamon. all was shoved into an oven warmed to 175, and it baked for about an hour. the smell woke up the mister. he says he'll keep me.

whenever we travel, my eyes are open to a whole new world of yum--our trip to tenerife created a mojo addiction--and this trip also inspired me culinarily.

the mister speaks spanish but neither of us speak portuguese. It's similar enough to spanish that we could figure out things, and the mister's amazing language skillz proved to be most helpful throughout the trip. most of the restaurants had a standard menu, and a selection of plates of the day. our first day there, i ordered the "fish with rice" (arroz de peixe) not knowing what to expect.

what i got was tasty tasty tasty.

it was, as advertised, fish with rice in a rich and spicy tomato sauce with shrimp and fresh parsley.

this is the dish i have recreated for dinner. mostly. i picked up some staple spices at a market during one of our jaunts--pepper combined with bay leaf, and paprika--and combined them with some canned tomato, stock, fresh red pepper, onion, and garlic. and you know what? it was deeelicious.


1 onion
garlic, as you please
1 red pepper
spices--sweet paprika, bay leaf
tomato paste
1 can chopped tomatoes
fish filets of choice
shrimp
2 cups stock of choice (i used fish stock)
1 cup of rice


i started out by sweating the onion.  i added the garlic and then the spices.  i was heavy on the sweet paprika. when the smell was intoxicating, i added a spoonful of tomato paste and the coarsely chopped red peppers. i let it all hang out for a while then added the can of tomatoes. i put on the lid and let it go for about 5 minutes. meanwhile, i defrosted some shrimp we had in the freezer. i added the fish, scooped the tomato over the top, and put the lid back on. after around 7ish minutes, i added the stock, brought it to a boil, and added the rice. lid back on, down to simmer. when the rice was nearly done, i added the shrimp, put back on the lid, and turned off the heat.

success! the mister says maybe i should try it again, you know, to make sure i have it right.

bon app!

more lisbon inspired foods are on the way...

put a little lovage in your heart: stuffed tomaters

we stayed with christian's family this weekend and returned home with fresh veggies from the garden--chard and lovage and tomaters and salades (salad greens).

for lunch, i made stuffed tomatoes. i used:
one slice of stale bread, crumbled
2 cloves of garlic
3 chard leaves and stems (the chard here is huge)
a large clump of lovage



i separated the leaves from the chard and lightly steamed the stem. meanwhile, i chopped the tops from the tomatoes and scooped them out with a spoon, saving the guts for something else. once the stems were steamed, i let them cool and then chopped them up in the food processor, along with the bread, garlic, and lovage. i love lovage. poor lovage doenst get enough love in the US... boy howdy is it gooooooood.

 it has a rather strong flavour: parsley with a bite but with a hint of celery, and the crisp of cilantro without the cilantro flavour.

it has zip.


i steamed the leaves of the chard as well, just to get things rolling, and chopped them up once they cooled.



i gave the tomatoes a crank of salt and pepper each and warmed up the oven to 350/175°.

then i grated some special cheese...



Gruyère from the village where christian grew up. his grandfather was a cheesemaker in the Fromagerie next door to the family home, and that's where this came from.

there are not rows and rows of gruyère rounds like in Gruyères, but i like the cheese from baulmes because of the family history. and i like cows.










i also like that in the evenings, you can see the line of farmers delivering fresh milk.

so, yes, i grated some cheese, plunked that on top, and put the tomatoes in the oven for about a half an hour until the cheese was golden and gooey and the whole place smelled amazing.

and in the end, i had a pretty fabulous lunch.

the leftovers are not so shabby either.