Traveling Tajine Project Update #2 + Other Notes

Ann over at Sacatomato made another go with the tajine before having to pass it on over to Jackie over at Cherry Soup. A delicious lamb tajine with cilantro, saffron, pearl onions and other goodness it's a great recipe to try out or adapt for a more conventional casserole type meal. Be sure to check it out!

In addition to that, a few other various updates. School is back in full swing and I am beginning work on my graduate thesis soon. It's still being tinkered with but I am starting to focus my other projects and papers into this central 80-100 page report I am starting to research. Expect me to come to you all for help and assistance in a few weeks. I think this blog will act as an amazing forum for insights, ideas, and resources for research and rhetoric that I might not have come upon on my own. All and all, expect some more academic crap up on this here blog. 

Also, I found a kumquat tree on campus. Now I think I found a loquat tree. Not sure yet as it's not fruiting (have to wait for summer), but time will tell. Thanks for pointing it out Helen!

Snapshots at the Market

Taken using Elise's camera which she had let me borrow. This was at the Farmer's Market under the freeway in Sacramento back in November. Just a simple something to share.

Duck Broth - A Small Practice in Slow Food and Damn Fine Tastiness

I recently met up with Hank, wild game cook extraordinaire, for dinner and trade. I had a bunch of hard to get spices on hand that simply weren't getting much use and he had an abundance of ducks. In need of thai long peppercorns in order to work his way through a cookbook (one of those impossible ones like TFL or Alinea's, but knowing Hank he can pull it off) he gave me a spoonie duck. 

Now this is a real treat for any cook. You see, federal law prohibits the sale of wild game fowl. You can hunt as many as your want for your own consumption, but you cannot make a profit from it. As such, if you aren't a hunter, you need friends who hunt. Luckily, I do, as a hunting rifle in my hands would probably end up with Cheney-like results. 

The bird was squirted with lemon juice, seared, stuffed with lemon and thyme, and then blasted in the oven. Served with quinoa, pickled kumquats, brussels sprouts and some wine it was a perfect sunday meal for one - a great chance to spoil myself (and on a budget, go me!).

The following day I decided to break the duck carcass down. To throw away those bones and bits of meat would be a crime and violation of the little duck's life. So into a pot his mauled little corpse went along with some bok choi, some thai peppercorn, a few cloves of garlic, and a smidgen of shallot. 

The result? Beautiful, gamey, smooth, bright tasting duck broth. It is something to taste and behold in and of itself. To hell with veggie stock and chicken stock. I'm about ready to be done with beef stock almost. Duck broth is where it's at folks. 

Before I planned to simply make soup with it, instead it was enjoyed on its own. Served in a large bowl with a side of soba noodles which eagerly soaked up some of the broth when dipped, the husky, earthy flavors of the buckwheat noodles were eager to compliment the gamey duck broth.

If anything I found a small lesson in this. Allow me to wax poetics and prose for a moment, but these two meals are the essence of slow food. Not only that, I call it a return to basics. A return to old food. In the 1920's when tinning and canning became widespread, 30 years before the superhighway, the dawn of refrigeration transport, a few decades before the fast food restaurant chain. This is how people ate for thousands of years. Any animal wasn't just nibbled at and tossed. Each and every piece was sacred and given thanks for. Nothing wasted, nothing taken for granted. 

I feel very Michael Pollan-esque right now.

Sweet Pea Cupcakes with Sour Cream Frosting

From the Cupcake Archives from March of 2007. This recipe was recently republished in a cookbook in the UK under the name Petit Pois Muffins. Very kid friendly and very delicious.

I have no freakin' clue why I thought of attempting this. Seriously, a cake based on peas?! What the hell? I guess it was the arrival of March. The barely audible first steps of Spring that are creeping in with blooming trees and slightly sunny days.

But still, peas? They're sweet and I do love them in soup, salads, savory dishes, dried with wasabi, and so on and so on so why not give it a shot? Someone made zucchini bread. Carrot cake. Sweet potato pie! Someone has to try peas. Might as well be me.

And you know what? It works. Quite well I might add. For one, it doesn't taste like peas. Well, maybe a slight bit but nothing unpleasant. Quite the opposite, it's sweet, fresh, bright. It's really impossible to describe the taste by flavors so I'll try to do it through images. It's a fresh cake that would replace a sweet cornbread at the dinner table. With the first bite, images of a simple afternoon tea, the table adorned with these bright green cakes, the sun starting to come down and creating dancing shadows through the trees entered my mind.

It's a simple, quick, and cheap to make recipe. While the actual fact that this is a pea cake seems daunting, even crazy, don't let it put you off. Oh no, for you'd be doing yourself a great disservice. This cupcake is sweet and colorful; it's perfect for the upcoming St. Patrick's day and a sweet smelling fanfare for the coming of Spring.

By the by, these are also celebratory cupcakes. Celebration for a few reasons:
1) Garrett got accepted to CSUS for the English Master's Program. That's right. I'm one step closer to teaching college classes and warping the minds of America's youth.
2) Garrett got promoted at work, and thus is moving to the Sacramento office.
3) Based on the above two, it's time to move from Davis to Sacramento. Goodbye Davis! I have loved you for nearly 6 years, but it's time for a change. I'll be back for the farmer's market though, so no worries.

Sweet Pea Cupcakes
Makes 20 cupcakes / 375 F degree oven

What You'll Need...
3 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups of peas, pureed
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 1/2 cups of cake flour
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of baking powder

What You'll Do...
1) Whisk together the eggs and sugar until bright and well emulsified.
2) Add the oil, extract, lemon juice, and pea puree. Mix well.
3) Add the flour and baking powder. Beat until just mixed.
4) Scoop into cupcake papers and bake in a 375 F oven for 14-16 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Set aside to cool, then frost.

Sour Cream Frosting
What You'll Need...
1/4 cup of butter, room temperature
1/3 cup of sour cream
2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon of vanilla extract
pinch of salt

What You'll Do...
Beat the ingredients until light and fluffy, and slightly stiff peaks form.

The Changing Food Writing Scene in Sacramento

I have been debating writing this post. The last thing I want to do is deride my fellow food writers in Sac. Still, I want to address it.

The food writing scene has changed here in Sacramento. If for the better or for the worse, I can't quite say yet. Recently the effervescent and thorough Kate Washington left the Sacramento News and Review to go to SacTown magazine where she should be able to revive from the dead what has in the past been the worst food writing and coverage a magazine has ever conceived. On the opposite end of the publishing spectrum our wine and food guru Mike Dunne, a pillar of the Sac food world who opted for the paper's voluntary buyout offer, has recently left the scene. A sad shame as Mike was one of few wine writers who people could trust implicitly due to his vast knowledge on the subject of wine though he's very humble about it.

Over at SN&R my friend and co-worker at Edible Sac, Ann Rolke was hired to do the by-columns and interviews. She's a great writer and a talented chef who has her own blog and cookbook. Already her pieces are pithy and informative; a pleasure to read.

Second at our weekly Sac rag is Greg Lucas, a SF political reporter now turned restaurant reviewer. His stories leading into the reviews are often thoroughly engaging and pull me into his world. Often I feel I'm sitting right there with him tasting each dish. The review of Samosa Garden was particularly artful and quite vibrant.

Now, Greg, I want to tell you what every foodie, food blogger, and food writer is saying: stop name-dropping. It's not giving you street cred, it's making us roll our eyes and not take the review seriously. It ends up sounding more like "Well I was dining with THIS PERSON and THIS PERSON, and THIS PERSON said the salsa was etc. etc. etc." Insert joke or comment. Supposed big laugh. I say this with love and a bit of ribbing mockery, but stop it. I don't care if you know Rosario Marin or Taka Watanabe. Also, the one-liners must go, but that's me as I personally can't stand them.

Furthermore, from what I gather you aren't primarily a food writer, but then who amongst us starts that way? I know I had no fucking clue what a Meyer lemon was at one time. Pick up a copy of Harold McGee's book and anything food related by Michael Rhulman and read it cover to cover. Not trying to be a bitch, but just trust me, you will find these to be valuable resources that you will turn to again and again (especially McGee's). I found that these helped me understand food on a new level and most others who have read them would agree.

The Bee hired as their new restaurant reviewer Blair Anthony Robertson, a staff writer who covered other stories for the Bee before applying to the position. His writing is smart and witty and it shows he's willing to put in the time and research in order to get the full story. At Tre he noticed the constant menu typos like Hank and I did and played well with it noting, "The best might have been the $6.95 'mocha moose terrine cake.' There were no large mammals harmed in the making of this dish." Point for Blair. I admire a man who can efficiently utilize dry humor.

What annoys me is he's been writing in his column and going into detail on NPR about playing undercover spy in the restaurant review biz. Let's be honest, in Sac you don't need to go undercover. You are not Ruth Reichl, you do not work at the New York Times. I've learned that if I simply put the reservation under a different name, that works just fine. After talking to a few restaurant owners, I've discovered only a scant few ever put up pictures of Kate or Mike and those were only the elite n' trendy places (one place I know did of me, I was shocked and honored but it made me wish I had uploaded better photos to my MySpace). Only one other time when I put a reservation under my name when I wasn't paying attention over the phone did me and my dining companions notice waiters pirouetting around the table. After conversations with other big paper reviewers they can all attest that it's only the LA, SF, Chicago, and NY papers' reviewers that need to really go undercover where the business is a bit more fast paced and epic.

The Bee also hired from in staff Gina Kim whose succinct style is fresh and poignant. Discussing food in a manner that is clear and to the point, she broaches stories where I feel I've learned something after reading. The main wine writer now is Chris Macias, his column Liquid Assets is digestible and I find I usually agree with his wine selections. His more investigative wine reporting isn't anything breakthrough but for the casual Food Section reader it's insightful and informative.

I would consider some of these writers par-baked. Feeling out their new diggs. At the moment among the food community it's become sort of in-trend to knock the new guys. How can we not when the people who have taught and talked with us for so many years have suddenly gone away or moved on? We feel slightly awkward in our new relationship so we test them and tease them as a way to get comfortable.

We need to give them more time in the oven before deciding one way or the other. This blog rarely does restaurant reviews anymore and only do them every blue moon (in fact look for one soon). Lord knows my own reviews and food writing has seen some bad prose. I can think of a few articles in Edible Sac and Sierra Style I wish I could take back, and more than a few posts I have to stop myself from deleting from existence every now and again. I rarely ever approach wine simply because I have little knowledge about it and less interest in writing about it.

I'm just a boy with a blog. I work at Edible Sac and take food writing and recipe development jobs where I can get them. I'm the last person to pass judgment and I know a few stones have been thrown my way (by few I mean weekly). It takes time to grow into a new position so I'll keep reading their work and looking forward to how they develop their space and hope to meet them all soon over dinner and drinks.