Croatian Cooking Class -The Pantry At Delancey

Amy Pennington preparing fried fish (smelt)

Remember the Good Fish class I took at The Pantry at Delancey ?  Well it was so spectacular I signed up for another one-Croatian Cooking.  Why Croatian cooking,well, even though I'm not 100% certain of where my relatives emigrated from, I do know (fingers crossed) that is was somewhere in the Croatia-Slovenia-Lithuania-Russia area.  That really narrows it down doesn't it ?  So when I saw this class, I thought great-get back to my roots or something like that. I learned so much in this class. The top 2 items being :#1, I love fried smelt and  #2 I love the Croatian noodles called Mlinci. What I also learned is that our chef instructor, Amy Pennington, is an author,blogger,gardener,chef,teacher,former assistant to Tom Douglas,lover of chicken fat  and a very funny person. Oh and she has a Croatian family. She spent time in Croatia and learned these recipes from the experts !

 

Addictive fried smelt

The menu for the evening was:

Turnip & Potato Soup - made with leeks,turnips,Yukon gold potatoes,sage and chicken stock

Fried Fishes- Smelt dredged in flour,smoked paprika,salt and pepper and fried in canola oil

Mlinci (those incredible Croatian noodles) & Roast Chicken

Apple Strudel-stretched,rolled and filled with cinnamon,sugar and sliced apples

Rolling out the dough for Mlinci

Since the whole concept behind The Pantry at Delancey is "community kitchen" that means prepped and cooked by the community -that would be us-willing students. We had our work cut out for us and we had a leader with a clip board  and "to do " list (always a good idea for organizing your meal prep). Roll out the dough for the Mlinci,chop the turnips,chop the onions,break down the chicken,put the soup on,bake the Mlinci,fry the fish,eat the fish (again caution very very addictive),slice the onions,eat some more of the fish ,bake the chicken,boil the Mlinci,fry the Mlinci,stretch the Strudel dough,fill the Strudel,bake the Strudel, drink the wine and sit down to a simple delicious meal prepared by all of us. This was no fancy schmancy meal,but this was an incredibly tasty meal and oh so very filling.  I should have walked home from the class to burn off the calories (which with the chicken fat,dough,sugar and everything else had to exceed 4 digit calorie counts !).

Still rolling Mlinci dough

Baked Mlinci, even as a cracker it's pretty good -looks a little scary but don't be put off by appearances

Once it's boiled and then fried in chicken fat -it's so very good !

About those Mlinci - I discovered these bites of deliciousness are made with flour,water,salt and eggs. Once baked they are crisp cracker like discs that you break into pieces and then reconstitute in boiling water. Then fry them in chicken fat-or duck fat (caution cholesterol alert). I found out that they can be served as a main dish with cream or butter, or topped with curd cheese and poppy seeds, and as a dessert when drizzled with honey. Anyway you serve them is going to be noodlelicious !

Mlinci

A recipe from The Pantry at Delancey

Yield: 6 servings

5 cups all purpose flour

2 eggs

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 cups cold water

Fat drippings for frying

Preheat oven to 400F

Place all ingredients except the fat drippings into a kitchen mixer with a dough hook. Knead until the dough comes together completely and forms a smooth ball.  Separate the dough into four even pieces and roll out on floured surface. Roll thin and evenly,about the thickness of tagliatelle noodles.  Place each piece on a sheet pan so that they aren't touching (you will need to use several pans). Bake until golden brown 20- 30 minutes.

Fill a large pasta pot with water and salt and bring to a boil. When Mlinci are cool enough to handle break them into wide noodle like strips-they will probably break into giant taco chip shapes-that is okay. Drop the baked and broken Mlinci into boiling water and cook until al dente, 8-12 minutes.

While those are cooking, add chicken fat (or duck fat) to a cast iron skillet or large heavy saute pan and heat over medium high heat, any liquid will evaporate leaving behind the fat.

Add cooked Mlinci directly to the saute pan or skillet. Keep them in a single layer and let them brown-don't stir them for about 4-6 minutes. Then toss once to brown the other side.  Using tongs, remove Mlinci,shaking off extra fat and add them to the platter you will be serving the chicken (or duck or turkey) on . Continue to add Mlinci to the skillet or saute pan until finished-add olive oil or butter if you run out of chicken fat. You can deglaze this pan (with Vermouth or white wine) when finished cooking the Mlinci. Then pour that fabulous liquid and brown bits over the Mlinci before serving. Serve immediately then head for the treadmill !

 

Learning all about breaking down a chicken !

Great idea for roasting- a bed of onions with chicken on top-the onions caramelize--hmm good

Makings for the turnip potato soup-wonderful aromas filled the kitchen

Amy starting to stretch the Strudel dough

It's a team effort to stretch the Strudel

Apples,cinnamon and sugar Strudel filling

Our excellent roast chicken and that heavenly Mlinci-nom nom chicken fat,chewy crispy noodles and onions

Voila-Apple Strudel-perfect ending to a perfect class

So proud of our chopping skills

Photo from The Pantry at Delancey via Facebook

This was such an enjoyable learning experience, I look forward to my next class there Pates and Terrines:Duck-watch for that adventure in mid-June. That class is described as : "One of our favorite butchers, Sarah Wong, is back with another set of fantastic charcuterie classes! In this hands-on workshop she’ll show you how to make some of her favorite duck-based pâtés and terrines: classic duck confit with new potatoes cooked in duck fat, duck bresaola with Rioja-balsamic gastrique, duck liver pâté with shaved radish and fennel, and mason jar pâté with cherry mostarda." By the time June rolls around I will have worked off the calories from this Croatian meal !

PS. Amy Pennington is one of those amazing woman you feel blessed to have had contact with.  If you get a chance to take a class from her jump at it. In the mean time you can buy her books : Apartment Gardening or Urban Pantry at Amazon.

Disclosure: I am not affiliated with the Pantry at Delancey and did not receive any monetary or product gain from them or Amy Pennington .

Smoked Coconut Cheesecake

I saw this recipe in Saveur several weeks ago and I've been anxiously gathering the ingredients to make it.  I had no idea what to expect as a result of smoking the cream cheese with the Thai Incense candle.  It is indescribably delicious. You have the familiar chocolate wafer crust ,then your taste buds find something smokey,salty,tart,sweet-they are falling into that tasting frenzy-what is this ? How can this be in one bite? And then just when you thought it couldn't get any better you experience the whipped cream topping with the taste of coconut and cream and white chocolate. And the taste that is left in your mouth is , wel it's  sexy,smokey,exotic.  Unbelievable-really, incredibly surprising.  Someone please buy me a plane ticket to New York so I can head straight to Spot Dessert Bar and try all of the Chef's incredible creations. Just look at this list:

Thai Tea Creme Brulee -flour less jasmine rice wafer, hot Thai tea

Smoked Coconut Cheesecake-young coconut flesh,Oreo crumbs, white chocolate shaving Chocolate Green Tea Lava-green tea-white chocolate ganache, green tea ice cream

Green Tearamisu-matcha green tea essence, green tea madeleine sponge, shaved white chocolate-green tea

Yuzu Eskimo-blackberries, raspberry foam, chocolate pearls,Oreo soil, chocolate ganache

White Miso Semifreddo-raspberries, EVOO, almond tuile, raspberry sorbet

 Kabocha Brulee Cake-oranges, condensed milk ice cream, walnut soil, jasmine flower wafers

 Soft Cheesecake-passion foam, blueberry compote, seasonal citrus, walnut soil

I would love to find the recipe for the Kabocha Brulee Cake, there are some on line but not his. Chef Chalermkittichai's  looks almost like a Chinese Tea Egg design on the cake and has several layers of kabocha lined with who knows what. Stop by the website to just drool over the pictures and then get in line behind me for his soon to be published cookbook.  I am amazed by the creativity of Chef Ian Chalermkittichai . Seriously,try the recipe-the Thai Incense candles are inexpensive and don't take long to arrive-after you have those ,it's a pretty straightforward cheesecake recipe. But trust me,your guests will be talking about it for a long,long time. Bon Appetit !

Smoked Coconut Cheesecake
Saveur Magazine Issue #147
Recipe courtesy of Chef Ian Chalermkittichai , Spot Dessert Bar ,Manhattan
Serves 8–10

Ingredients:

3 8oz. packages cream cheese

1 cup ground chocolate wafer cookie crumbs

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

¾ cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream, chilled

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 eggs

1 egg yolk

½ cup coconut milk

½ cup confectioners' sugar

2 oz. white chocolate, shaved

Instructions:

1. Place a Thai incense candle in a 3″–wide bowl; place within a larger bowl containing cheese. Light candle; cover bowl with foil. Smoke for 30 minutes. Uncover bowl; set aside.

2. Heat oven to 300°. Mix crumbs and butter in a bowl; press into bottom of a 9″ springform pan wrapped in foil. Bake until set, about 15 minutes; cool. Process cheese and sugar in a food processor until smooth. Add 1 cup cream, salt, vanilla, eggs, and yolk; process until smooth. Pour cream cheese custard over cooled crust; bake until cheesecake jiggles slightly in center, about 1 hour, 15 minutes. Cool, and chill for 4 hours.

3. Whisk remaining cream, coconut milk, and confectioners' sugar until stiff peaks form; spread over cake. Sprinkle with chocolate to garnish.

*You can order the Thai incense candle needed for this from Temple of Thai

Pear and Vanilla Cakes

I love pears. Ripe,fresh juicy pears, with a thin slice of Havarti cheese. Or spread with a creamy French cheese. Or a chocolate pear tart, or pear ice cream, you get it, I love pears. Growing up we had a pear tree in the backyard, the fruit would fall to the ground and become a feast for the hornets and bees. Maybe that is why I didn't care for them growing up , it was too dangerous to try and retrieve the fruit, not worth risking a stinger for ! I'm sorry now that I wasn't brave enough to try and retrieve that wonderful sweet fruit.

 As I've learned later in life, sometimes you have to take a risk to get what you want. That's a lesson that is sometimes difficult to put into practice. Risk taking is frightening, oh not when it comes to pears anymore, but with life in general. You ask yourself, do I ? What's the worst that could happen,sometimes the worst is something uneventful and you go ahead and take your risk. But sometimes the answer to that question is frightening.  It could result in a loss of job, a loss of a friend, a change in a life style and sometimes even a risk to your health. A decision that none of us would take lightly.  Yet for some reason,  in the last few years I have been making decisions knowing "the worst that could happen" could be life changing, and yet I went into my "full steam ahead" mode and made decisions that drastically altered my life.

Some of my less tolerant friends chalked it up to mid life crisis, but those who know me and still love me dearly, know that I have reached a point in my life that if I'm not happy with something I'm not going to sit around and wait for that "something " to change. I am going to change that "something."  And if that means changing jobs,changing myself or changing anything, then I am going to move forward and take the risk and make the change. My life is just beginning to settle into somewhat of a routine after all of the  changes I've made over the last 6 years. From married to divorced to married to the same wonderful man again (thanks for hanging in there sweetie); from 911 police dispatcher to flight attendant to pastry chef to  travel company to cruise ship company to work from home. I'm happy with the job I have now, I love working from home , it feels like a good fit and I've passed my family's 6 month "whew she didn't quit" time line !  And I'm so happy and so grateful that the man I fell in love with in college stuck by me and took a second chance with me. Now the next big challenge will be where to retire. Do we stay put ? Belize ?  Costa Rica ? Oregon ? Or pack up everything and take a year long cross country trip ? Fingers crossed that will be the last life changing experience ( I can hear my family laughing now ) But if it's not , well isn't life just an adventure after all ?

Back to these wonderful pears, I saw an Australian Pear advertisement in a recent issue of Donna Hay magazine with a sweet photo of a pear and vanilla cake. I knew I immediately wanted to try it.  While the recipe stated the yield was 12 mine was 6.  I'm guessing from their photo that they used smaller pears and smaller deeper liners than the ones I had access to. Doesn't matter, my cakes turned out perfect and very delicious. This makes a nice light dessert with a glass of wine. And they look so pretty .

Pear and Vanilla Cakes

Adapted from Australian Pear Council (recipe appeared in an ad in Donna Hay Magazine)

Yield-6 using 3" wide by 1 3/4" deep baking liners

For the Pears:

6 Bosc pears, peeled and cored with stem left attached

8 cups of water

1 vanilla bean,split and seeds scraped

2 2/3 cup super fine sugar (You can pulse regular sugar until it reaches a super-fine, but not powdery consistency if you can't find super fine sugar)

For the vanilla cake:

4 1/2 oz unsalted butter,softened

2/3 cup super fine sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour,sifted with the baking powder and salt below

1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

Powdered sugar for dusting

Place the water,vanilla bean and seeds and the 2 2/3 cup sugar in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Add the pears. Cover the pears with a round of non- stick baking paper or parchment paper and then cover the pot with a lid. Cook for 25-30 minutes or until the pears are tender.  Drain on an absorbent paper towel,set aside and allow pears to cool. (You can save the pear/vanilla flavored syrup in a bottle or jar in the refrigerator for up to a month). 

 Preheat the oven to 325F.

Place the butter and remaining sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes or until pale and creamy.  Gradually add the eggs one at time  and then the  vanilla extract,beating well after each addition.

Fold in 1/3 of the flour,then 1/2 of the milk,then another 1/3 of the flour and the remaining milk,finishing with the final 1/3 of the flour. 

 Spoon the cake batter into the liners,  just slightly under 3/4 full.

Slice off about 1 inch from the base of the pear,chop those slices into small pieces that you can stuff into the cored out portion of the pear (that stops the cake batter from filling in the core of the pear).

Carefully take each pear and push it into the center of the liner with the cake batter-you want the cake batter to push up along the outside of the pear. 

 Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the pears are tender when tested with a skewer and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake. The cake bakes up very pale-it won't brown,unless you over bake and burn it. 

Remove from oven and cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar.

Hungarian Shortbread-TWD Baking with Julia

Hungarian Shortbread-that sounded interesting,especially to me with my mixed European Heritage.  Honestly I can't say which countries my relatives came from. My one grandfather had altered his name and told us he was from a small village in Lithuania and yet what little of his documents we could locate, showed St. Petersburg , Russia !  The other grandfather fled the Yugoslavian army,changed his name and we think stowed away on one of the ships out of Belgium. It's all a mystery as anyone who might have known something about either of my grandfathers is long gone. So I chuckled when I saw this recipe.  I thought immediately-shortbread,ahh those lovely buttery cookies. But what a surprise as I read the directions and ingredients, I thought hmm,pastry masquerading itself as shortbread-was it hiding from something like my grandfathers?  I wasn't sure about it,especially the "freeze the dough and grate it " part !  But let me tell you, this dough was so buttery and tasty, I'm thinking of trying shortbread cookie dough ice cream.  I'm not usually a raw dough fan but I had to hurry and put this in the oven before I taste tested all of the dough .

According to About.com "Hungarian shortbread or omlos teasutemeny (oom-loosh TAY-ahsh-soo-teh-men-ee), where omlos means short pastry and teasutemeny means biscuit in the cookie sense, has a thin layer of jam between two layers of buttery dough."  I used my best and sweetest butter, Kerrygold Irish Butter, for this.Whenever I make shortbread I always try to use Kerrygold-it gives a much richer and sweeter taste.But, I made a huge error as I was setting up my mise en place. The recipe calls for 4 cups of all purpose flour- I only had 1 cup left-how could that happen ? So I improvised, I added 2 cups of all purpose bread flour and 1 cup of cake flour-hoping the low gluten content in the cake flour would balance out the high gluten in the bread flour. And it did. I was worried that the shortbread would be too doughy and tough from the bread flour but the baking gods were with me and it turned out perfectly.

This is very rich, and I think it would be just as rich regardless of the type of butter used.  It's delicious,buttery and sweet.  I didn't make my own jam but instead used my favorite Bonne Maman Cherry Preserves. The tart cherries set off the buttery dough to perfection. You can see what my fellow bakers did with this recipe by clicking here.

And thanks to Lynette from 1Small Kitchen and Cher from The not so exciting adventures of a dabbler for hosting this week. Now go buy the book and start baking with us .

Clams,Mussels and Iron Springs Resort

J and I wanted to get away this week and we headed to a place we had passed a little over a month ago-Iron Springs Resort.  At that time, we stopped to check out the property and fell in love with it. It wasn't until this past week that we could co-ordinate our time off  with availability of the cabin we wanted to rent. Cabin #2 at Iron Springs.  When we first entered the cabin it felt like home, the sun was shining through the windows and lit up the space with a warmth and comfort that felt so familiar.  There was a king size bed with a fluffy down comforter that looked so inviting and you could see the ocean and Boone Creek from the bed.

Cabin #2 in the glorious sunshine-it's the one on the far right end

We both knew immediately we wanted to come back and spend some time here. This past week we finally did, and we were not disappointed.  The week-end that was forecast as cloudy,cold and grey,turned out to be sunshine,blue skies and perfect ! We sat back and relaxed,caught up on our reading, walked and walked on the beach and just stared out the windows watching the eagles soar above the hills. We had a resident Kingfisher who would visit periodically during the day and the frogs would sing us to sleep at night with the ocean playing it's unending song in the background.

 Iron Springs Lodge circa 1950 from the Iron Springs Website

 Olive Little bought the original cabins and lodge in the 1940s, adding a restaurant where her cinnamon rolls and clam chowder became famous.  She would deliver the chowder and cinnamon rolls in her Model T Ford. Olive ran the place for over 60 years. She lived to be 91 and recently passed away in 2007.  She was an amazing woman, according to her obituary, and a little cantankerous according to her history.  She had a private pilot's license and she studied to obtain an amateur radio operator's license . She was a single woman when she took over ownership and operation of the Iron Springs Resort in 1947.  She married at the resort  9 years later.  I'm sure she would have been one of those fabulous women who have lots of good stories to tell !

Cabin #2 our little retreat from the world

  In 2010 , a family who had been visiting the resort for years purchased it-the True family.  They undertook a major renovation and remodel . You will find little touches like  warm and cozy Pendleton blankets and pillows  along with local artwork; doggie bowls and doggie towels for the pet lovers; comfy beds with fluffy down duvets; completely stocked kitchens (just bring your food or pick up something at the little store on the property);a clam cleaning station and an outdoor fire pit with a gorgeous view of the creek and ocean. According to the history of the resort,Olive selected the location for each cabin to provide a stunning view of the water with the trees surrounding the cabins and providing privacy to the guests.  It's very obvious from the restoration that the new owners love the resort and did a beautiful job of restoring it physically -their restoration kept what I feel was the spirit of the resort. They re-purposed so much of the material from the old cabins and the downed spruce trees-you are surrounded by the history and spirit of the original resort. It's one of those places you go to and it feels good all around you and makes you want to return time and time again.

It was fun reading the notes left by previous guests,even more amazing was how many started with : "our family started visiting in the 50's and  we have returned every year; or my husband (or wife ) grew up here visiting every summer since he or she  was 8years old" .  This wonderful little place seems to be woven into the memories of so many lives. And now we can start our own memories,because we definitely will be back.

(Beautiful photos and a little more about the resort can be found at a blog called "Unlikely Places")

  

 

What better meal to enjoy at the beach, but clams and mussels. We sat at the wooden dinner table enjoying the clams and mussels,dipping the crusty bread into the spicy broth ,sipping a cold crisp Washington Chardonnay and gazing at the spectacular view of the ocean-who needed dessert ! 

I have a new "go to" recipe for clams and mussels.  It's Langdon Cook's recipe, that I discovered on our recent shellfish foraging expedition.  I adapted it ever so slightly, using spicy Italian sausage; adding 1 pound of the sausage instead of 1/2 pound; and a little more of the red pepper flakes.

 

 

Steamed Shellfish with Wine, Tomato, Sausage & Herbs

Adapted from Langdon Cook

Servings:4

3 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed

1 dozen mussels, de-bearded and scrubbed

2-3 tbsp olive oil

1 pound spicy Italian sausage, crumbled

2 yellow onions, chopped 

6 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup white wine

2 14-oz can diced tomatoes

1 handful mixed fresh herbs, chopped (e.g. thyme, oregano, parsley)

1 1/2 tablespoons red pepper flakes (reduce this to your own taste if don't like the kick from the pepper flakes)

 

•  Heat olive oil in deep saute pan or heavy-bottomed pot and brown sausage.
•  Add onions and garlic; cook until soft.
•  De-glaze with white wine, making sure to scrape all the brown bits from the pan. Mix in tomatoes with juice, chopped herbs, and pepper flakes. Cook for a few minutes over medium heat.
• Raise heat to high, dump in shellfish, and cover. Steam until shells open, several minutes.

Good bye ocean ,good bye Iron Springs -for now

 

Blood Orange Yogurt -Sun Today , Gone Tomorrow

The Weather Channel says it is 68F in Seattle today (April 23).  I'm  looking out the window at the blue skies and my tulips in bloom-gorgeous.  Summer must be just around the corner (she says wishfully ). Keeping my fingers crossed that the weather holds through Saturday since we are heading to the coast this week.  The forecast doesn't look good,but it's Seattle and the forecast can change hourly.  Being in the summertime frame of mind, I've pulled out my ice cream maker from the back of the pantry. Maybe having it in the freezer and ready to go will induce the Sunshine Gods to stick around for a while.

Growing up , Summertime meant Kennywood Park and Dairy Queen ice cream.  I loved that swimming pool. It was huge. The pool measured 357 feet long by 180 feet wide or a total of 64,260 square feet. In comparison a regulation NFL football field is 57,600 square feet! It could hold up to 4500 people,like I said, it was huge. Jumping off the high dive was always an adrenalin high and going down the sliding board, that you see in the background, was like a roller coaster ride splashing into the water !

Kennywood Park Swimming Pool

 Ah those lazy crazy days of summer.My girlfriends and I would walk to Kennywood to swim and sun all day and on the way home stop at the Diary Queen for a soft serve ice cream cone (really we just wanted to flirt with the boys who hung out there). We thought soft serve was the best, we had yet to discover frozen yogurt,gelato,homemade ice cream and sorbet.  If I could afford it I would have a soft serve machine in my kitchen and enjoy frozen soft serve yogurt  and ice cream all the time !  But since I don't , making my own frozen yogurt with my ice cream maker will have to suffice.

Beautiful Blood Orange

I found this recipe over at Kitchen Konfidence. Check it out, Brandon has a gorgeous blog and this recipe was very easy and extremely tasty.  It was like eating the blood orange itself.  Tart and sweet, perfect way to end a meal.

Pouring the blood orange syrup over the Greek yogurt

I should have published this post when it was 68 degrees because the Sunshine Gods did not stay for long. The Grey Skies Gods have returned ! That is okay because I now have this lovely blood orange yogurt to remind me of the sunshine. I will savor each sweet spoonful along with the memories of those wonderful summers of my youth.

 Bon Appetit !