Asparagus, Goat Cheese, and New Potato Pizza
I have come down with a serious case of food blogger’s guilt.
What kind of guilt, you ask? Well, I can tell you it has nothing to do with calories, and more to do with content. It is a “disease” in which you have no motivation to blog about food, or take pictures while you are cooking, or even write about food and, yet, you know that your stats will go down if you have not posted in over a week. I know someone out there also has this condition.
Please?! Tell me I am not weird. Sometimes, I just don’t make anything worth blogging about. Last week, I made my Sake Poached Sea Bass twice. Yes….twice. Tuesday and Wednesday. Read the rest of this entry »
Beet and Avocado Salad with Roasted Chicken
My Mama once told me that her best conversations were had after dinner, picking at the remains of the salad bowl. 
Erik and I have yet to sit at our dinner table for a long time. I think it is the chairs. So, our picking happens in the kitchen during the cleanup. And the conversation, well not so much. For as much as I love to cook, and as much as we love to eat, and as much as we LOVE to talk, it just doesn’t happen at the dinner table for us. We are silently stuffing our faces, and racing to get to the couch to relax after our busy days.
If we need to “talk” about something, or just need time to ourselves as a couple, we go out to dinner. Then distractions like plating the food, photographing, the dirty dishes, or Cashew begging does not get in our way. We sit, relax, and talk for hours while the staff is willing to serve us, clean up after us, and offer us dessert. But, then it is inappropriate to pick out of the salad bowl. Hmmmm…..
Maybe we need to invest in some comfortable chairs.
Cafe Lago’s Pomodoro al Forno
Cafe Lago kept presenting itself to me in many ways. First, the owner’s brother works as one of our stage crew at the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Everyone at the ballet knows that I am a foodie, so I had been told many times about the restaurant by many of the stage crew. I just never got around to going there.
Second, I read about the restaurant in the most recent issue of Bon Appetit. And, the most important is that my favorite blogger, Molly Wizenberg, at Orangette, wrote about it and her favorite recipe on her blog today. Well, I guess that was not much of a coincidence because she was also the one who wrote the article in Bon Appetit.
So, when I went last week, I had to try the recipe that Molly had raved about in her monthly column. It was stunning, just as promised, but that was not all. The food and wine was out of this world. Our waitress even recommended a wine that came specifically from her Grandmother’s small Italian town.
And, I had been resisting for so long….
Here is my attempt at Cafe Lago’s recipe. I will have to go back soon to see if I am even in the ballpark.
Market Salad with Spiced Goat Cheese
I know what you are thinking…ANOTHER salad. But, I am headed to Vail, Colorado for a Dance Festival with my company on Saturday. And, after only being back for two weeks with five weeks off, light dinners are a must.
Dancing in Vail, which is at an elevation off 8000 feet is much harder than dancing in Seattle. You lose your breath faster, and your muscles just don’t feel the same. Luckily, we have all been there before, so our company knows a little more of what to expect this time around. Last year, there was a girl who fainted, everyone had to take lots of oxygen supplements, and you didn’t see a person without a water bottle in had. This year, I am nervous because one of the ballets we do, Concerto Barroco, never leaves the stage. So, if you can’t catch your breath, you have to wait until the ballet is over. Twenty minutes. Scary.
At first, when I read this recipe off of Epicurious it made me a little curious. Spiced goat cheese and steamed potatoes. Sounds BORING, right. But, it got amazing reviews! It is loaded with ingredients which makes for interesting flavor combinations with every bite.
Pork Tenderloin with Bing Cherry Reduction
“My picture today is not particularly amazing (hahah! to say the least), but that is because in the past two days I have broken both of my memory cards in BOTH of my cameras. I am obviously doing something wrong. Thank goodness for the camera on my iPhone!” *(I updated the picture this evening because the photo was BEYOND horrible)
This recipe stemmed from many different people. The first person is one of my best friends and fellow-foodie, Kylee. She is the master at making pork tenderloin. The other day she said that she made a dinner where she stuffed it with goat cheese! Delicious. I knew I had to try it. The second person who inspired me for this recipe is my fellow Seattle food-blogger friend Matt Wright. He made dandelion greens about a month ago, and I knew I just had to try them, after seeing his delicious post. Lastly, I adapted a recipe that I found on another blog I love called Closet Cooking(and he adapted it from a recipe on Food Network). So, Thank you to all of my inspirations. The dinner was a success. I served this with the Truffle Potato Mash with Mascarpone that I made the other night. However, I left out the truffle oil:)
Beet Green and Goat Cheese Pasta
Yes, I know what you are thinking. What are beet greens?
They are actually the leafy greens that grown on top of the beets, and YES, they are edible! Beet greens taste a lot like any dark leafy green such as Kale, Swiss Chard, or even Spinach. When the beet greens wilt down though, they are not as bitter as chard, or kale, and they pair very nicely with cheese, and cream. They are also incredibly good for you because they are nutrient rich with Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and lots of fiber.
I got this recipe from one of a fellow food blogger, Susan. Her blog is not only written well, but the recipes and photos are to die for. If you have not checked it out, you must! After trying two of her recipes tonight, I am very impressed.
Mache with Apple, Bacon, and Hazelnuts
After 5 weeks of afternoon naps, a daily walk with Cashew, grocery shopping in the morning, and mini-vacations, I am finally back to work.
It was brutal. I had been taking ballet class over the layoff to stay in shape, but nothing prepares you for an 8-hour day of rehearsal in pointe shoes. Ibuprofen was a staple with the morning coffee.
Coming back to work always starts with a week of fresh dinners. I feel when my body is trying to get back in shape, it just needs light, clean food.
I started out the week with a shrimp salad with mango and glass noodles, and then a farmer’s market style salad with asparagus and new potatoes. But, by the end of the week, I was done with too many vegetables. I needed something satisfying and indulgent.
Enter: Bacon, Hazelnuts, and Goat Cheese.
Goat Cheese and Butternut Pizza
It is Sunday, so generally I like to purge my refrigerator of all the various and assorted ingredients I have collected over the week. This pizza is the product of those leftover ingredients. All I had to buy was the dough!
I know it seems weird, but this pizza is so good. The goat cheese changes its flavor when it is warm, and the crispy prosciutto complements the softness of the roasted squash.
Also, if I cannot convince you about the taste, this pizza is incredibly healthy (I know it seems ironic). Goat cheese is lower in fat, calories, and cholesterol in comparison to a cow’s milk cheese. It is also easier to digest. Butternut Squash also has loads of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and Fiber. The prosciutto on this pizza is also lower in fat and calories than a more common pizza topping such as pepperoni or sausage. So gorge away! It is guiltless pizza.
Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad
Erik, my husband, had this salad at a restaurant called Farm in Brooklyn with our best friend Josh. He came home, and immediately wanted me to recreate it for him. I did not recreate the presentation (Erik could not describe it well enough for me), however, the flavors were very similar. Beets, Goat Cheese, and Balsamic Vinegar.
Erik and I love beets. They are so sweet when they are roasted, and they pair so nicely with a soft cheese (like gorgonzola or feta). If you do not think you like beets, try this recipe. It is a winner.
Fig and Goat Cheese Crostini
This appetizer stemmed from my love of sweet and savory together. These crostini just melt in your mouth. They go quickly, so make more than you think!
You can experiment with the types of goat cheese you use. I prefer milder goat cheeses but, if you like a stronger flavor, it will work just as well.
