Scratch Cooking December 6th

Do you ever have those days that turn out to be an unexpected and delightful adventure? I had one of those much needed days on Saturday. Now I don't have to tell you, my faithful readers, that I have been, in a word, cranky. Actually, the word should probably be a stronger one, but let's just agree to use "cranky". Steroids, itchy, itchy, itchy disgusting rash on my face, itchy eyeballs all make for a very, very cranky me.

Anyway, on Saturday, I decided I was going to trek out to the Valley to a cheese making supply store and take the plunge of making my own aged cheese. I called my friend Nina because she lives near the cheese store to see if I could stop by and say hello. She said she would do me one better - come by, accompany her on two quick errands in Glendale and then we would go together to the cheese store. The two errands were dropping a bottle of wine with one of her clients (Nina represents a couple of wine portfolios) and the other was going to visit a wine and cheese shop that she has been trying to sell. Perfect! I had been wanting to go to that wine shop.

So off to Glendale we went, dropped the wine at the wine store and then off to Palate, the cheese and wine store / restaurant. We happened to walk into a Burgundy wine tasting. We both decided we weren't going to be drinking that afternoon, so we walked around the shop a little and Nina said hello to the owner.

There was a wine bar and they had a menu of potted and pickled things. I suddenly realized that I hadn't eaten lunch and I was hungry and something potted and something pickled sounded like the perfect thing to eat. So Nina and I sat down and ordered a few things - potted Berkshire pork and pickled brussels sprouts. We were sitting there happily eating and chatting when a man walked in with a couple of pots and put them in front of the people sitting next to us. Nina asked what it was and it turned out to be an Iranian rice dish and a southeast Asian chicken dish. Out came the Palate chef and owner and everyone started tasting. The next thing I knew, the guy next to us was putting plates in front of Nina and me. It was absolutely delicious.

Turned out the guy who made the food is an architect that designed Palate. He is of Armenian and Italian decent who grew up in Iran The guy next to us was also of Armenian decent and grew up in Lebanon. He's a lawyer and a developer. The woman next to him was the owner of the building. We all started chatting and within 5 minutes, our new friends were also pouring us some really delicious Burgundy. Turns out our new friends also pride themselves on creating lovely experiences for people that they meet.

We ended up staying until 4:30 eating and drinking and chatting; about travel, food, wine, work, life and all sorts of things. Needless to say, we never made it to the cheese supply store, but who cares. It was a wonderful, unexpected adventure and just what the doctor ordered. For a few hours I was totally distracted from being itchy and self-conscious about what looks like flesh eating bacteria on my face. All I can say is, thank goodness for Shu Uemura powder. Buy stock!

I got home after 6 at which point I realized that I had left the egg, honey and milk bread dough rising all day. It's the dough I have made before, but with the addition of 2 eggs. I punched it down, let it rise again and baked it and it came out great, or so I'm told.

Other cooking projects this weekend included a pumpkin and cured salmon risotto. Sautee onion in olive oil with some salt, pepper, pureed pumpkin and chunks of pumpkin. Then you add a cup of rice and 1/4 cup white wine. Once it's absorbed, slowly add 3 cups of water. When the rice was cooked, I added some of the cured salmon and a little bit of creme fraiche and scallions. It was super yummy.

I also made a plum tart with a chocolate nut crust. Amazing but true; we still have French prune plums at the Farmers Market! For the crust, I mixed 1 cup of mixed almond and walnut flour (made from ground nuts) 1/2 cup sorghum flour, 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1/3 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa, 1/2 teaspoon xantham gum, 1/4 teaspoon salt in a cuisinart. Add 1/4 cup butter cut into chunks and then with the motor running, add about 1/4 cup water until it makes a dough. Press into a pie pan. For the filling I cut about a dozen plums into quarters and mixed with 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons casis, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon lemon rind, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon cardamom. Put it in the crust and bake at 375 for about 45 minutes.

Dinner tonight was a bunch of veggies - onion, squash, sweet potato, brocolli, turnips, peas, greens - cut up and sauteed in olive oil for about 10 minutes. The way I do it is to add them in this order; onions first, while they're cooking, cut up sweet potato and add it. While potato is cooking, cut up squash and add it. Followed by turnips, brocolli, peas and greens.  Add 1/2 cup rice and 3/4 cup black quinoa with 3 cups of water and some salt, pepper and herbs. I used that mix I made with the orange peel, ginger, coriander, mint, fennel and cardamom. Cook for about 25 minutes or until the quinoa and rice are fluffy. I liked it more than I usually like quinoa. The rice lightens the flavor a bit and the spice mix worked nicely.

So here's to unexpected, delightful afternoons. May we all have many of them!