And We Don't Even Have to Hire Movers

We've moved our blog to: awinkandapinch.com.

Hope to see you there!

Don't Burn Down the Rental: Mimi's Pepper Steak with Garlic Scapes and Rice

As a child, one of my favorite dishes was a pepper steak my mom used to make. Unlike the recipes that use a mixture of stewed bell peppers and tomatoes, this one is a rich combination of whole peppercorns, a sour cream sauce, and a flambé-style brandy finish. When I told Elliott about my dramatic experience the last time I made this dish, he assured me that he had everything under control.

The recipe calls for you to deglaze the pan with a 1/3 cup of brandy and even though Elliott only used a 1/4 cup, the show was just as spectacular. We realized that when there is an explosive flame that reaches to the ceiling, it would probably be a good idea to have an exit strategy. (After a search on the internet we learned that a nearby metal lid is the best way to snuff out pan fires) The flaming brandy was easy enough to blow out but it still got our hearts pumping and filled our already smokey apartment with another wave of brandy-flavored smoke.

Considering my mom made this recipe multiple times in our small kitchen growing up, I realized we must have either had really high ceilings or she was a bad-ass cook. Elliott and I both agree that this recipe would be best executed in larger, more modern kitchens outfitted with vented hoods. Even though most of the alcohol burns off relatively quickly, it definitely gets your pulse going.

Pepper Steak:
4 small steaks (tenderloin, rib eye or spencer cuts)
Whole peppercorns
1/3 cup brandy
2 tsp. beef bouillon
Splash of red or white wine
1 tbsp. butter
2/3 cup sour cream

Lightly pound peppercorns or leave whole as we did. Press pepper into both sides of steak and let stand for 10 minutes. Heat a skillet and rub with meat fat. Cook steak on both sides until medium rare and season with salt. Add brandy and light, covering the pan with a metal lid, if necessary. Remove meat to platter. Add the beef stock and wine and cook for 1 minute. Finish with butter and sour cream.

Garlic Scapes:
Fresh garlic scapes, trimmed
1/2 fresh tomato
Butter
Olive oil
1/2 cup of white wine

Elliott's cousin Cisco recently told us about garlic scapes, a tender offshoot of the garlic plant that is only available at the beginning of the summer season. They look like a long green bean but with the subtle flavors of garlic. Since we both love garlic, it was a great change from our usual broccoli or asparagus. Their season is short so don't miss the chance to try these curly wonders!

Sauté the scapes in a little butter and olive oil. When heated through, add the tomatoes. Once the scapes have caramelized, deglaze the pan with the wine and serve.

Family Style Pasta with a Zucchini Marinara

The other night I was feeling a bit under the weather and Elliott made me a pasta I couldn't refuse. It was a simple marinara made with zucchini, white wine, and tons of garlic. Paired with a showing of The Godfather II, it was the perfect meal to get me up and running again.

Homegrown Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

We got off the island, as we say here in West Seattle, and headed to Kent, WA last Saturday for a early Father’s Day brunch with Elliott’s family. His aunt and uncle have a great piece of property that is surrounded by rolling green hills, picket fences, and some neighboring horses. After a tasty meal and a tour of the garden, we headed back to the city life with two bags of fresh kale, chard, and rhubarb. Since we are currently addicted to strawberries, we thought what better use for the rhubarb than to mix them together and stick it all in a buttery, flakey pie crust?

Greekgasm: Lamb Sliders on Pita with an Apricot-Onion Relish

This last Sunday we had the rare treat to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. It felt like a vacation - especially with the weather jumping to the 70s - so we decided to end the day with a Greek-inspired meal. This dinner materialized partly due to our passionate love for sweet potato fries, and partly from another round of "Let's Play...Clean Out the Fridge!" 

Weather Getting You Down? Don't Get Mad, Get Stewed: Rib Eye Stew with Butternut Squash

Whenever the sun is on strike, as it so often seems to be in this part of the country, the best way to warm up is to take a hot yoga class or make a big pot of stew. Since we were both still recovering from our latest yoga adventure, we chose the easier and tastier option. Plus it seemed like the perfect companion for that night's "Game of Thrones" (Little did we know they were skipping a week for Memorial Day).

Johnny Cakes with a Twist: Heirloom Purple Corn

There's nothing better than a Sunday morning spent in bed with a good New York Times article. This last Sunday we came across a fascinating piece on how we are breeding the nutritional content out of our foods in favor of sweeter, less nutritious varieties (New York Times article). Blue corn, for example, has almost 65 times more phytonutrients than the super sweet white corn we're all familiar with. We began to brainstorm what we could do with blue or purple corn and immediately thought of Johnny Cakes. 

Soft-core Albacore with Bok Choy, Portabella and Red Bell Pepper

When you sear albacore or ahi tuna on the grill, it doesn't even resemble the stuff you get in the can. The fleshy, medium-rare middle is like candy with just the right touch of salt on the edge. It is the perfect execution of cooked fish, without any hint of fishiness. 

Poor Man's Paella with Chicken, Chorizo and Shrimp

Technically this dish is more "middle class" thanks to the saffron, one of the most expensive spices in the world by weight. The cheapest jar we found was just under $15 and though it was hard to see the value in these tiny red strands, a little goes far and the taste is totally unique.

Paella is a Spanish mash-up of rice, veggies and surf and turf ingredients. While most recipes we found were a seafood extravaganza of clams, mussels, squid, and lobster tails, we opted for jumbo shrimp. Hence, the "poor" in our title.

This Ain't Our First Fiesta - Slow Cooked Carnitas with Ancho Chile Sauce

There is no better way to honor Cinco de Mayo than to slow cook a pork roast in the crock pot for 12 hours. You simply rub the roast with spices, dump in some beer and forget about it. We started ours at 10 o'clock the night before so by the next morning the whole house smelled amazing and the pork was falling apart mid-air from pot to plate. By the time dinner rolled around, we had plenty of time to grill some peppers, make an ancho sauce and salsa from scratch and chill out from our day in the sun. ¡Salud!

Guy's Night Gratin Potatoes with Leeks and Gruyere

When you're cooking dinner for a big group of guys, you can't go wrong with meat and potatoes. Marinated flank steak is easy and (somewhat) affordable and gratin potatoes are a good dish to make ahead of time with little cooking fuss during the party. Throw some in-season vegetables on the bbq and there's plenty of time to catch up at the meeting of the grill masters.

Morning in the Mediterranean: A Turkish Inspired Breakfast

Many years ago I visited Turkey and found that each hotel I stayed at served a variation on a deconstructed Greek salad. Sometimes there were hard boiled eggs or fresh fruit, but always some cucumber, tomatoes, and feta. At first I thought it was strange to not not have a warm, freshly cooked breakfast but after a week, I began to look forward to it.

Bu-Tang Tacos

Every so often it's a necessary step in the cooking process to pilfer through the contents of your fridge. It's so easy to forget about what lurks in the depths of the beast that you'd be surprised when you do go spelunking, there can be quite a few treasures to be found. On this particular night, we discovered some butternut squash living next to the stack of cookbooks we keep stored in our freezer (it's a long, soggy story). 

Brown Butter Duet

One of our go-to dishes when we're feeling decadent is Panko-Crusted Halibut over Gnocchi in a Brown Butter Sage Sauce. It was originally inspired by a gnocchi-making class we took at PCC. Our teacher was a flamboyant Italian woman named Iole and after tasting her homemade gnocchi with the brown butter sage sauce, we knew we'd found a keeper.  Although this night we opted for the store-bought version, it's surprisingly easy and fun to make the gnocchi from scratch.

Where Fish Go to Fry

We popped into The Seattle Fish Company on California Ave. for a quick lunch and to pick up some fresh halibut for our weekend dinner. It used to be that you'd head to Alki Beach for the best fish and chips in West Seattle, but we're firm believers that the title now belongs to this establishment. 

Bob's Slaw Blog

As all of you Arrested Development fans know, season 4 drops on Netflix on May 26th. We're currently working our way through season 3 and had to give a shout out to everyone's favorite dysfunctional attorney, Bob Loblaw. The slaw we created is healthier than the corn baller, more original than a chocolate covered banana, and just as colorful as the characters on the show. Enjoy!

April Flurries Bring Green Curries

Mid April in Seattle is usually mild (in rainy terms), but this year some parts of town got hail and snow. What better way to warm up from this freakishly cold weather than to make some homemade green curry? Ever since we used the recipe from the cookbook, Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet, we've never gone back to store-bought curry paste. Even though it takes a long list of ingredients and some elbow grease, the flavor is totally unmatched by what you can get in the jar. Plus, you can control the spice level and freeze the leftover paste for quick meals during the week.

Sick of Meat? Don't Be Radicchio!

It's been almost two weeks since our trip to Argentina and we've been experiencing some serious meat withdrawals. Or perhaps our desire comes from watching back to back episodes of The Walking Dead.

Not Your Cardamom's Oatmeal

For Labor Day weekend last year, we headed to the Olympic Peninsula for some good ol' fashioned beach camping. It had been almost ten years since I'd gone camping at this spot and a lot of things had changed. For one, we sadly brought an iPad loaded with movies so we wouldn't have to stare at the stars all night. For another, we traded cheap beer for actual sustenance and hiked in enough food to last us a week.

You Say Picatta, I Say Marsala

There's something about a really thin slice of pan-fried chicken that is so appealing. When you sear chicken and braise it in a sauce, the meat becomes so juicy and tender, you'll be wondering why you didn't buy a bigger piece. The best options for this cooking method are Chicken Picatta and Chicken Marsala. Two wildly different recipes but equally delicious in their own right.