Braised Oxtail
It became very obvious to me the other day when having a conversation with another Seattle “foodie”, that I am not a gourmet cook. That’s not to say that I’m not a good cook. I am. We eat good food almost all the time. But is it gourmet? Not really. We take fresh, high quality ingredients and turn them into good, fresh, seasonal, accessible food. Not all of our recipes come out perfectly. And it’s rare that I take a recipe and strive to perfect it over many many iterations. There’s nothing wrong with that philosophy. But it’s not gourmet.
Dumplings? Easy. Delicious. Not gourmet.
Mock Turtle Soup? Nothing really gourmet about that. Meat, veggies, broth, spices.
White bean and kale stuffed delicata? Nothing gourmet here. Just high quality ingredients, mixed well in the right proportions.
Oxtail is one of those ingredients that smacks of gourmet. You just don’t hear of people cooking with oxtail at home very often. Really, there’s no reason for avoiding it. Oxtail is pretty cheap right now, since so few people appreciate it. You can get it for $5-$10/lb, or even cheaper if you shop around (there was a grass-fed meat vendor at the Kirkland Wednesday Market last year who was selling them for $2/lb).
Continue reading Oxtails Braised in Red Wine
Nightwatch Stuffing
Ever since I started cooking Thanksgiving dinner, I’ve been searching for “my” stuffing recipe. Mom’s stuffing was always good and of course it had that “I grew up with this” charm, but I wanted my own recipe. (Mom’s uses items that are decidedly not local, so that’s another reason to find my own recipe). I’ve tried several different recipes, and so far, this is what I’ve come up with. This recipe (or a close approximation) will be what we use for our local Thanksgiving this year.
We’ll also have John’s Merme’s stuffing, which uses Bell’s Poultry Seasoning. Luckily, Bell’s is from New England, and that’s exactly where his parents are flying in from in just a few days. So we’ll ask them to bring us a box.
Soon after my dear, sweet husband introduced me to beer, I decided that one of my favorite beers was Nightwatch from Maritime Brewery. I like my beers dark and toasty. But lucky for us, Nightwatch is a local beer so it fits in very nicely with any Thanksgiving planning. The second component to today’s stuffing is a bag of stuffing mix (read: stale baguette pieces) from Tall Grass Bakery. You can pick up a big bag of stuffing mix at the University District or Ballard Farmers Markets this weekend for only $5. Add in some carrots, celery, an egg, and a bit of seasonings, and you’ve got yourself some stuffing.
Continue reading Nightwatch Stuffing
Even though we have a pretty varied diet, there are still some ingredients we haven’t cooked with yet. If you’ve reached this page through search or from Seasonal Cornucopia, we’re sorry that we’ve left you high and dry on recipes. Please send us an email and let us know what ingredient you’re looking for and we’ll do our best to find you a recipe or we’ll cook that that ingredient as soon as we can.
The other day, I saw one of my very favorite things at Sea Breeze Farms – fresh ricotta cheese.
If you’ve never had fresh ricotta, you don’t know what you’re missing. Being Italian, I am very familiar with ricotta. Being third-generation Italian, and having lived in a farmers market and Italian deli-free zone for years, I never tasted truly fresh ricotta until last summer. It is a taste to be savored. Fresh ricotta is firm, creamy, and just a bit sweet. It’s not at all watery, not gritty, and above all, not completely tasteless like that [...]
