Easter Brunch with a Worldly Lady

My friend Megan (of Mlle Megan) was in town over Easter weekend, so we made a plan to go out for brunch then do a little shopping. I asked around, and the consensus was the Heathman was the place to go. I made reservations, which was definitely a fortuitous decision, because when we arrived, the place was packed.
We started off with a sampler of oysters and champagne. I never realized before how different various oysters could be, but comparing them side by side, taste by taste, it was obvious. All were so delicious, we decided to order a second plate.


After all that decadence, it was time to order an actual breakfast. I went the traditional route, with brioche french toast. It was quite possibly the best french toast I've ever had: thick, eggy brioche topped with sliced bananas, a dusting of powdered sugar, and maple syrup.







Megan continued the decadence with creamy panna cotta topped with sliced strawberries, slivers of basil, and a balsamic vinegar hinted sauce.
Plus, since it was Easter, everyone got Hot Cross Buns: spicy with candied citrus and crossed with a lightly sweet frosting.

Shopping didn't go quite as planned, as the only stores open were Banana Republic, Anthropologie, and Powell's (although who can complain if Powell's is open? I can't.), but brunch was so delicious it totally made up for it, and it was a lot of fun finally hanging out with my friend.

I Promise I'll Update This Soon

I was out of town on vacation last week, and just got home late Friday night. I took lots of interesting food-related photos, and I promise I will upload the full story soon. But, (sorry to use a tired cliche') as soon as I landed back in Portland, I hit the ground running, and haven't had a chance to relax and catch up. I'm tired. But it will happen soon. I swear.

Breaking in the New Table and a Word About Wine

As some of you know, I recently bought a new dining set. My friend Alex did the majority of the heavy lifting, saving me from an imminent melt-down. Once I got everything put together and uprighted, it was time to put it to use. So last week Alex came over and we cooked dinner. Here's the result:

• Spinach Salad ala Il Fornaio (spinach, bacon, ricotta salata cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, walnuts)
• Mint and Asparagus Frittata
• Crusty Bread
• Chilean Chardonnay*

Everything turned out really well, I'm pleased to say.

*A little opinionation on wine: yes, yes, everyone pooh-poohs chardonnay, just as is beginning to happen with merlot. But I really don't think it is fair to demote entire varieties of wine just because they became excessively popular at one point that every Tom, Dick, and Harry winery grew and put out a chard or merlot regardless of whether they ought to or not (i.e. yucky wine), and that it had such a mass appeal as to become totally uncool.
Just as in everything else, you have to be selective. There are good and bad of every variety. In fact, several months ago, there was an article in Bon Appetit discussing chardonnay, encouraging drinkers to give it a try again. The chardonnay we had was really nice and light.
And, just for the record, I had quite possibly the best glass of wine of my life Saturday night. What was it? A merlot. But seriously, I cannot emphasize enough how good it was. So don't turn your nose up at these just because they have (or had) mass appeal. Go past the masses, and find a little corner for yourself.

A Delicious, Easy Recipe

Chinese Broccoli with Sausage and PolentaI made this for dinner last week, and as it is super easy and really good, I thought I would share the recipe with you. I made a couple of adjustments though: instead of chinese broccoli, I used broccolini, and I also substituted chicken sausage for the pork to make it a little less fatty. So here's the recipe, courtesy of Epicurious.com:

Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 45 min

Servings: Makes 6 servings.

Ingredients
2 lb Chinese broccoli, thick ends trimmed

For polenta
6 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups polenta (not instant) or yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan

For sausage and garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 lb hot Italian sausage, casings removed
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation

Cook broccoli:
Cut broccoli stems diagonally into 1-inch pieces and coarsely chop leaves. Cook stems in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about4 minutes. Stir in leaves and cook 1 minute. Drain in a colander, then rinse under cold water to stop cooking. Do not squeeze out excess water.

Cook polenta:
Bring water with salt to a boil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan, then add polenta in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Cook over moderate heat, whisking, 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and simmer polenta, covered, stirring for 1 minute after every 10 minutes of cooking, 45 minutes total. Stir in butter, cream, and cheese and remove from heat.

Sauté sausage and garlic while polenta cooks:
Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté sausage, stirring and breaking up meat into large pieces with a spoon, until browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a plate. Reduce heat to moderate, then cook garlic in skillet, stirring, until golden, about 2 minutes.

Add broccoli and cook, stirring and scraping up brown bits from bottom of skillet, 2 minutes. Return sausage to skillet and toss with greens, salt, and pepper. Serve over polenta.

--Gourmet | February 2003

Escape From New York

It's kind of like the Soup Nazi of Portland. No cell phones, cash only, and occasionally, attitude. But damn, the pizza's good.

I feel it's time I wrote a review of my neighborhood pizza joint, Escape From New York. High time, in fact. Long overdue. I've been going there for the last couple of years. Nothing fancy, they usually have 3 or four options: always pepperoni, always cheese, and usually a mushroom or olive variety (tonight it was a mix), and occasionally one other, sometimes with meat, usually not, though. Supposedly, it's a lot like the pizza you would actually get in New York City. I've only had pizza in New York City once or twice, and neither time it was like Escape's, but I have a feeling I didn't go to an authentic place. Whatever.

At Escape From New York, the pizza is floppy and traditional; you won't find goat cheese or barbeque chicken here. It's pepperoni, cheese, sausage, peppers, etc. You get the idea. I've tried pepperoni (numerous times), Hawaiian, mushroom/olive variety, and a veggie combo. All were good. Many people love the plain old cheese, but I've never tried it. The atmosphere of the place (although I've never actually eaten my pizza there) is classic. Really, for whatever reason, it reminds me of high school. If I had known how to drive when I was in high school, this totally would have been my place (I frequented Oasis on Hawthorne, and the now-defunct Famous Bobs at that point in time). Also, somehow, it reminds me of the 80's. I love it.

You will often get a healthy dose of attitude here: once, I realized at 10:00 p.m. that I hadn't had dinner yet, and pizza sounded great, so I called to make sure that they were still open. Their reply: "Yeah, we're still open. We're open until eleven." As in duh, I should have known.

I think they recognize me there. I like that. It makes me feel like a regular, like I live in a real city.
As a sidenote, beer, wine, soda, and Manhattans go much better with the pizza than martinis. I found that out tonight. So, unless you are from the suburbs, I highly encourage you to frequent Escape From New York. It makes me happy.

A Brief History of Doughnuts

Lately, for whatever reason, doughnuts, specifically Bismarks (filled with custard and frosted with chocolate), have been my dessert du jour. A little greasy, a little trashy, but 100% delicious. It's not just me though; one of my friends has a penchant for the combination of doughnuts and champagne. Maybe we're ahead of the curve, and doughnuts will become the next cupcake. (Notice the recent proliferation of cupcake shops?) So in hope of making doughnuts fashionable again, here is a brief history of doughnuts, courtesy of Wikipedia:

A doughnut, or donut, is a sweet, deep-fried piece of dough or batter. The two most common types are the torus-shaped ring doughnut and the filled doughnut, a flattened sphere injected with jam/jelly, cream, custard, or another sweet filling. A small spherical piece of dough, originally made from the middle of a ring doughnut, may be cooked as a doughnut hole.Ring doughnuts are formed either by joining the ends of a long, skinny piece of dough into a ring or by using a doughnut cutter, which simultaneously cuts the outside and inside shape, leaving a doughnut-shaped piece of dough and a doughnut hole from dough removed from the center. This smaller piece of dough can be cooked or re-added to the batch to make more doughnuts. A disk-shaped doughnut can also be stretched and pinched into a torus until the center breaks to form a hole. Alternatively, a doughnut depositor can be used to place a circle of liquid dough directly into the fryer. Doughnuts can be made from a yeast-based dough for raised doughnuts or a special type of cake batter. Yeast-raised doughnuts contain about 25% oil by weight, whereas cake doughnuts' oil content is around 20%, but they have extra fat included in the batter before frying. Cake doughnuts are fried for about 90 seconds at approximately 190°C to 198°C, turning once. Yeast-raised doughnuts absorb more oil because they take longer to fry, about 150 seconds, at 182°C to 190°C. Cake doughnuts typically weigh between 24 g and 28 g, whereas yeast-raised doughnuts average 38g and are generally larger when finished. After being fried, ring doughnuts are often topped with a glaze (icing) or a powder such as cinnamon or sugar. Styles such as fritters and jelly doughnuts may be glazed and/or injected with jam or custard.
As well as being fried, doughnuts can be completely baked in an oven, and these varieties have appeared in some stores over the last few years. These have a slightly different texture to the fried variety with a somewhat different taste due to the lack of absorbed oil—and so have a lower fat content.
The traditional mass-produced fried yeast-based doughnut production process (such as used by Krispy Kreme) uses a partial baking (proofing) of the dough before frying (~20 minutes/125°F), but it is not classed as a baked doughnut.
There are many other specialized doughnut shapes such as bear claws, old-fashioneds, bars or Long Johns (a rectangular shape), and the dough twisted around itself before cooking. In the northeast USA, bars and twists are usually referred to as crullers. Doughnut holes are small spheres that are made from the dough taken from the center of ring doughnuts or made to look as if they are. These holes are also known by brand names, such as Dunkin Donuts' Munchkins and Tim Hortons' Timbits.
History
Possible origins
Doughnuts have a disputed history. One theory suggests that they were introduced into North America by Dutch settlers, who were responsible for popularizing other American desserts, including cookies, cream pie, and cobbler. This theory is bolstered by the fact that in the mid-19th Century doughnuts were called by the Dutch olykoeks ("oily cakes"). However, there is also archaeological evidence that the pastries were prepared by prehistoric Native Americans in southwestern USA.

Hansen Gregory, an American, claimed to have invented the ring-shaped doughnut in 1847 aboard a lime-trading ship when he was only sixteen years old. Gregory was dissatisfied with the greasiness of doughnuts twisted into various shapes and with the raw center of regular doughnuts. He claimed to have punched a hole in the center of dough with the ship's tin pepper box and later taught the technique to his mother.
In Laura Ingalls Wilder's book Farmer Boy , Almanzo's mother makes donuts, both braided and ring-shaped, and the round ones are referred to as "new-fangled". It is noted that the braided ones will turn over by themselves while cooking, whereas the ring-shaped ones require that you turn them over.
Making
Before the ring shape became common, doughnuts were often made as twisted ropes of dough. In the UK, doughnuts were always made into a ball. When cooked, they were injected with jam or jelly and always rolled in granulated sugar. This method is still in practice, but ring doughnuts are also now widely available. When placed into a pot of boiling fat, they floated until the lower half was cooked and then rolled themselves over to cook the other side. Ring doughnuts have to be flipped over by hand, which was more time-consuming. The twisted-rope type is called a cruller in some parts of the U.S., but cruller also refers to a particularly airy type of ring doughnut, usually glazed.
Etymology
Oliebollen Dutch doughnuts
The earliest known recorded usage of the term dates an 1808 short story describing a spread of "fire-cakes and dough-nuts." Washington Irving's reference to "doughnuts" in 1809 in his History of New York is more commonly cited as the first written recording of the term. Irving described "balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat, and called doughnuts, or olykoeks." These "nuts" of fried dough might now be called doughnut holes. Doughnut is the more traditional spelling, and still dominates outside the US. At present, doughnut and the shortened form donut are both pervasive in American English. The first known printed use of donut was in a Los Angeles Times article dated August 10, 1929. There, Bailey Millard jokingly complains about the decline of spelling, and that he "can't swallow the 'wel-dun donut' nor the ever so 'gud bred'." The interchangeability of the two spellings can be found in a series of "National Donut Week" articles in The New York Times that covered the 1939 World's Fair. In four articles beginning October 9, two mention the donut spelling. Dunkin' Donuts, which was founded in 1948 under the name Open Kettle (Quincy, Massachusetts), is the oldest surviving company to use the donut variation, but the now defunct Mayflower Donut Corporation appears to be the first company to use that spelling, having done so prior to World War II.
Regional variations:
Argentina
In Argentina, the local equivalent to doughnuts are facturas, a popular baked doughnut-like pastry of German origin. Facturas are consumed massively and can be found in every corner bakery. However, doughnuts are starting to gain popularity, probably because of American influence through television series and films. They can be found in some bakeries and hypermarkets like the American Wal-Mart or Chilean Jumbo.
Australia
In Australia, not only do they have the traditional doughnuts, they're also famous for their own jam doughnuts. These doughnuts are sweet buns that have a filling inside. Other fillings inside these doughnuts include custard.
Austria
In Austria there is no real market for American-style donuts. Not a single nationwide donut chain exists; the only store making itself quite famous selling donuts is the Viennese store Batriks Donuts.
The Austrian doughnut equivalents are called Krapfen. They are especially popular during Carneval season (Fasching) and do not have the typical ring shape but instead are solid and usually filled with apricot jam (traditional) or vanilla cream (Vanillekrapfen).
Belgium
In Belgium, the smoutebollen are similar to the Dutch kind of oliebollen, but they usually do not contain any fruit, except for apple chunks sometimes. They are typical carnival and fair snacks and are eaten with powder sugar on them.
Canada
In Canada, the doughnut follows the same design as in the United States. Several stores including Tim Hortons, as well as some U.S. chains such as Dunkin' Donuts and Krispy Kreme, make the majority of their profits by selling donuts. Another Canadian variant is the Beaver tail (known as an "elephant ear" in many other countries).
Per capita, Canadians consume the most doughnuts in the world, and Canada also has the most doughnut stores per capita. Many humorous Canadian stereotypes, such as the Bob and Doug McKenzie characters, include doughnuts (as well as stubby beer bottles, tuque hats, maple syrup, and back bacon) as part of their lore.
China
Chinese cuisine features long fried doughnut sticks that are often quite oily, hence their name: Youtiao (Mandarin, lit. oil sticks); these pastries are not sweet. In Cantonese, this doughnut-style pastry is called yow ja guei. Often this is served with the traditional rice porridge of Chinese cooking, congee. A type of sweet Chinese doughnut is the oval shaped fried pastry called "gnou lay sou", which translates to "Ox-tongue pastry" due to its tongue-like shape. Chinese restaurants in the US sometimes serve small fried pastries similar to doughnut holes.
Croatia and Serbia
Doughnuts similar to the Berliner are also prepared in the Northern Balkans, particularly in Croatia (pokladnice or krafne) and Serbia's Vojvodina province. They are called krofna or krafna,[citation needed] a name derived from a German word for this pastry. This type of doughnut is popular in Chile because of the large German community there and is called a Berlin (plural Berlines). It may be filled with jam or with manjar, the Chilean version of dulce de leche.
Denmark
In Denmark, doughnuts do also exist in their "American" shape, and these can be obtained from various stores, e.g. McDonald's. The Berliner, however, is also broadly available in bakeries across the country.
France
In France and in New Orleans, Louisiana, there exists a fried pastry called a beignet, which is sometimes described as a French doughnut.
Germany
German Berliner
In Germany, the doughnut equivalents are called Berliner (sg. and pl.), except in the city of Berlin and some other German areas, where they are called Pfannkuchen. In middle Germany, they are called Kreppel. In southern Germany, they are also called Krapfen and are especially popular during Carneval season (Karneval/Fasching) in southern and middle Germany and on New Year's Eve in northern Germany. Berliner do not have the typical ring shape but instead are solid and usually filled with jam. Bismarcks and Berlin doughnuts are also found in the U.S., Canada, Finland, and Denmark.
Greece
In Greece, there is a doughnut-like snack, called loukoumas (λουκουμάς), which comes in two types (one is shaped like the number 8; the other is torus shaped like the number 0), from which the first one is crispier, whereas the second one is larger and softer.
Iceland
In Iceland, doughnuts are known as kleinuhringur (pl. kleinuhringir).
India
Some savory, fried items not based on wheat-flour pastry are referred to as doughnuts, such as the ring-shaped Indian vadas, made of lentils. Indian vadas are food of masses. In north India, vadas are soaked in curd, sprinkled with spices, topped with sweet/sour chutney and then eaten. In south India vadas are eaten with sambar.
Indonesia
Donat Kentang is known as an Indonesian style potato doughnut; a fritter that comes in ring shape and is made from combination of flour and mashed potatoes, coated in powder sugar or icing sugar.
Iran
Persians are known for their zooloobiya, a fritter that comes in various shapes and sizes and coated in a sticky-sweet syrup.
Israel
Israeli sufganiyot in a wide variety of toppings at a bakery in Tel Aviv, Israel
Jelly doughnuts, known as sufganiyah (סופגניה, pl. Sufganyot סופגניות) in Israel, have become a traditional Hanukkah food in the recent era, as they are cooked in oil, associated with the holiday account of the miracle of the oil. Traditional sufganyot are filled with red jelly and topped with icing sugar. However, many other varieties exist, with the more expensive being ones filled with dulce de leche.
Italy
Italian doughnuts are called ciambelle, krafen, zeppoli or bomboloni. (Bomboloni are just like Bismarks--my favorite!)
Japan
Native to Okinawa is a spheroid pastry similar to doughnuts called sata andagi. Mister Donut is one of the most popular doughnut chains in Japan.
Lithuania
In Lithuania, a kind of doughnut called spurgos is widely known. Sometimes spurgos are similar to Polish doughnuts, but some specific recipes, such as cottage cheese doughnuts (varškės spurgos), have also been invented.[citation needed]
Mexico
The Mexican donas are very similar to donuts including in the name; the dona is a fried-dough pastry-based snack, commonly covered with powdered brown sugar and cinnamon, white sugar or chocolate.
Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the Oliebollen, referred to in cookbooks as "Dutch Doughnuts", is a type of fritter containing pieces of apple and/or dried fruit like raisins; they are traditionally eaten as part of New Year celebrations.
Poland
Traditional Polish pączki
In Poland and parts of the U.S. with a large Polish community, like Chicago and Detroit, the round, jam-filled doughnuts eaten especially—though not exclusively—during the Carnival are called pączki (pronounced [ˈpɔntʂkʲi]). Russian "пончики", ponchiki, and Ukrainian "пампушки", pampushky, are the equivalent designations for pączki, but are usually not filled with jam. Romanian gogoşi are similar to the Polish pączki. Pączki have been known in Poland at least since the Middle Ages. Jędrzej Kitowicz has described that during the reign of the August III under influence of French cooks who came to Poland at that time, pączki dough baked in Poland has been improved, so that pączki became lighter, spongier, and more resilient (see pączki in Polish Wikipedia).
South Africa
In South Africa, a variation known as the koeksuster is popular.
South Korea
Many bakeries in South Korea offer doughnuts either filled with or made entirely from the Korean traditional rice dessert tteok. These come in a variety of different colors, though they are normally in green, pink, or white. They are often filled with a sweet red bean paste or sesame seeds.
United Kingdom
In some parts of Scotland, ring doughnuts are referred to as doughrings, with the doughnut moniker being reserved exclusively for the nut-shaped variety. Glazed, twisted rope-shaped doughnuts are known as yum-yums. It is also possible to buy fudge doughnuts in certain regions of Scotland. In some parts of Northern Ireland, ring doughnuts are referred to as "gravy rings" due to their being cooked in oil, itself colloquially known as "gravy".
United States
A popular doughnut in Hawaii is the Malasada. Malasadas were brought to the Hawaiian Islands by early Portuguese settlers and are a variation on Portugal's filhós. They are small eggy balls of yeast dough deep fried and coated in sugar.
To celebrate Fat Tuesday in southeastern Pennsylvania, churches sell a potato-starch doughnut called a Fastnacht (or Fasnacht). The treats are so popular there that Fat Tuesday is often called Fastnacht Day.
The Polish doughnut, the pączki, is popular in U.S. cities with large Polish communities such as Chicago, Milwaukee, and Detroit.
Doughnuts and topology
Doughnuts, as ring-shaped items, are an important explanatory tool in the science of topology where the ring doughnut shape (a ring with a circular cross-section) is called a torus or toroid, and an example of using the ring doughnut as an illustrative term can be found in popular explanations of the Poincaré conjecture. The other toroidal food item used in topological explanations is the bagel. However, the bagel has a hole to allow it to be retrieved from boiling water, while a doughnut hole is intended to allow the doughnut to cook faster and more thoroughly. There is no historical connection between bagels and doughnuts.

The Random Update: Clyde the Glide

So sorry, I haven't posted in nearly a month, but honestly, three things have been going on to prevent this: 1) I've been damn busy with a bunch of random things, 2) I haven't been cooking or going out much, and 3) what dining I have done has not been accompanied by my trusty digital camera.
But here's what I've tried that is of note: Clyde Common.
I first went there for happy hour on my birthday. The atmosphere was good, but I didn't really have much opportunity to try the food as I was expected to make an appearance at dinner elsewhere.
Since then (November 1st, for those of you keeping track), I've been there probably four or five times. Apparently, it's my new favorite restaurant. Happy hour, dinner, late night, you name it: it never disappoints.
Their menu changes weekly, but favorites (such as poutine) reappear, rotating back in on occasion.
I tried one rendition of the "Smoked Board" which was particularly tasty: smoked oysters, a delicate little mound of potato salad (a world away from the yellow-tinted grocery-store goo), something else that I have since forgotten, and a shot of aquavit. I tell you, I almost felt Scandinavian!
The last time I went, we decided to have our dinner consist of several appetizers, as a way of conserving funds. Clyde Common is on the spendy side, in case you hadn't figured that out yet. So we ordered a little skewered, grilled quail on a bed of caramelized shallots; a shaved fennel salad topped with some sort of pecorino, and the illustrious poutine. Poutine in a French-Canadian specialty, normally the stuff of fast food, comprised of french fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. Yes, it sounds like a mess. But yes, it is delicious, even in the fast food rendition. But Clyde Common took it to a whole other level. Instead of ordinary cheese curds, it was topped with Gruyere; the gravy was translucent and rich; and to top it all off, it was topped with a couple of slivers of foie gras. Yes, I know foie gras is controversial. But damn! Is it ever good. So that is $12 poutine, ladies and gentlemen.
I've tried two desserts: a flourless chocolate cake, and crepes filled with caramelized apples, topped with something similar to granola and caramel-swirled vanilla ice cream. Both were good, but did not stand out as the savory items did.
The drinks here, however, are great. Two of note are the Anemic Mary (a bloody mary made with tomatillos instead of tomatoes, resulting in a green drink, rather than the traditional red), and the whiskey ginger, my favorite. Maker's Mark (my favorite whiskey) mixed with a little ginger beer and cinnamon-infused syrup results in a drink that is balanced and spicy; not nearly as sweet as one would imagine.
But what about the atmosphere, you ask? Excellent, at least for my taste. The main floor has several communal tables, encouraging conviviality among patrons. It is warmly lit, all hardwoods and white walls, and an open kitchen lets you know where the action really lies. Upstairs, there is additional seating in a dimly lit mezzanine. It's nice, but somehow all the sound accumulates up there, so it's very difficult to carry on a conversation without shouting. The photo below really doesn't do the place justice. It's really much cozier than that.

Clyde Common
503.228.3333
SW 10th and Stark
Portland, OR
http://www.clydecommon.com/