Simple Spinach and Bacon Salad

This salad is a nice and easy way to eat your spinach.  I really like the balance between the sugar and the cider vinegar as well as the richness of the bacon in the dish.  It also looks great on the plate.  As always, use the best quality ingredients you can find.  For myself, I used Hornbacher’s bacon (Hornbacher’s is a local grocery chain).  It was a really nice touch.  The bacon was more thickly cut than your average supermarket variety and was less salty.  To vary this dish, a great addition to this salad would be strawberries or dried cranberries.

Simple Spinach and Bacon Salad

4 slices bacon

5 oz baby spinach (or spinach and raddichio mix)

1 T olive oil

3 T cider vinegar

2 T sugar

salt and pepper to taste

3/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Fry bacon in a saute pan until cooked to your liking.  Then remove the bacon from the pan and cut into 1/4 inch thick pieces, reserving the drippings.  In a small bowl, combine 2 T of the bacon drippings with the olive oil, cider vinegar, and sugar.  Season with salt and pepper and then give it a taste.  Adjust any seasonings. 

Place the spinach in a large bowl.  Add about half of the bacon and toasted almonds.  and then the dressing.  Toss to combine.  Plate the greens.  Sprinkle each plate with the remaining bacon and almonds.  Serve immediately. 

Here’s what it looks like:

Smoked Salmon Benedict

I made the most delightful brunch this past Sunday.  I am a huge fan of eggs benedict and of hollandaise sauce in general.  But even I like to have some variation on my favorite dishes.  I found this twist on eggs benedict in The Bon Appetit Cookbook: 

Smoked Salmon Benedict

3 T minced shallots

2 tsp dry mustard

1 1/2 cups dry white wine

3/4 cup whipping cream

6 english muffins

8 oz smoked salmon

3 large egg yolks

3 T chopped fresh dill

Place shallots, dry mustard, and wine in small saucepan.  Bring to a boil and reduce to 1/2 cup.  Add the whipping cream and heat to a simmer.  In a small bowl, beat the eggs yolks until they become pale in color.  Using a whisk, incorporate the yolks into the cream mixture.  Then over low even heat (preferably over a double boiler), whisk until the mixture thickens.  Mix in the dill and keep warm. 

Meanwhile, toast the English Muffins and poach your eggs.  To poach, heat a large, deep saucepan filled with water and some vinegar (about 3 T for 2 quarts of water).  Bring the water to a gentle simmer, and crack the eggs directly into the water.  Then, just wait for them to float to the surface and remove with a slotted spoon. 

To serve, place the smoked salmon over the English Muffin halves.  Place one poached egg over each muffin and the top with the cream sauce.  Serve immediately.

The result is a rich yet lighter take on the usual eggs benedict.  The acidity of the sauce makes a perfect match with the smokiness of the salmon while the dill simply is a perfect partner with any kind of salmon.  It is a really delicious combination. 

Dinner at Silver Spoon

I had dinner at the Silver Spoon Restaurant on Saturday night.  It is tucked into a larger building that itself is tucked away in a rather obscure place in town for a restaurant.  Inside, however, the restaurant proves itself to be spacious, welcoming, and home-like in a French provincial sort of way.  It is tastefully decorated with rich warm earth tones.  But what is most impressive about the interior is the style of the tables.  This restaurant spared no expense when choosing their furnishing.  The tables were large, heavy pieces that were stained darkly and would be welcome in any fine house.  Furthermore, the tables were spread apart from each other to a greater degree than I’ve ever seen in a restaurant and the tables were set so their guests were comfortably sat as far as elbow room goes.  The table we sat at was set for four but at another restaurant it would have served for 6 or even maybe 8.  Needless to say, the Silver Spoon is a very comfortable and relaxing place to dine. 

The service was just as comforting as the decoration.  Our server was knowledgeable, prompt, and personable.  When prompted, she had a good deal of fascinating information about the owners.  The husband and wife team are from the Czech Republic and have settled in this area because they have family in Pelican Rapids.  The husband was a chef of some repute in the Czech Republic and was the equivalent of an executive chef at a nice hotel. 

But what about the food?  The best adjective I can think of is surprising.  Nothing on the menu or in the salad bar (about which more later), tasted anything like I thought it would taste.  There was always some flavor hidden in the food that was totally unexpected from the description in the menu.  Take for example the mushroom double baked potato that came as a side dish to my entree.  Of course, it was a baked potato that had had its flesh scooped out and mixed with a mushroom mixture.  All of that would have been fine and good but the chef decided to add one more thing to the mixture: caraway seed.  Now let me be clear that I like caraway seed.  But I do not like it with potatoes.  To my mind, the flavor is far too strong to pair with a bland ingredient like potatoes.  Indeed, the caraway seeds absolutely overpowered the other flavors. 

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  The menu is large and quite varied.  It had sandwiches, steaks, fish, pasta, poultry, and pork dishes on the menu as well as a number of appetizers and salads.  But it would take a monstrously prodigious eater to dare an appetizer when, with each entree ordered, a diner is allowed to partake of the salad bar.  The salad bar consists of about 10 composed salads.  All but two of them were pasta salads and of those, half were mayonnaise based.  These pasta salads had everything from pork to chicken to raw salmon.  The lighter ones like the fusilli pasta with olive oil, chicken, and roasted vegetables were very good but most of the mayonnaise based salads were less than stellar.  (Disclaimer, I generally don’t like mayonnaise based pasta salads anyway.)  The worst was probably the salad with the raw salmon.  The mayo did not pair well with the fish and there was some other unidentifiable flavor (again, a surprise) that did not do the dish credit.  My favorite salad was a pork and pepperoncini salad served in what was basically a pork au jus.  It was deeply flavored with a nice touch of heat.  The final salad was a very mustardy potato salad that was tasty as well.  Here’s a picture of my salad plate:

The entrees, on the whole, were much better than the salad bar.  My dinner companions had a turkey dish and halibut over pasta in a cream-based sauce.  The halibut was very good.  It was about a 10 oz. piece of fish that came out wonderfully flaky and tender.  It was a very good value for the price tag of about $20.  I ordered the Dijon Turkey Breast.  This dish was grilled turkey breasts served with a dijon piccata sauce (basically lemon and butter) and capers.  The sauce was very, very good; a nice sophisticated take on your average piccata but the turkey was just a little off.  While well-seasoned, the grilling of the turkey made it just a little bit tough and produced some smoky flavors that weren’t perfectly matched with the delicate nature of the sauce.  The turkey came with some very nice sauteed vegetables, which were probably the best part of the meal, and (surprise, surprise) a salad of baby greens.  I can’t say the dishes didn’t work but I can say that I would have never guessed what came out on my plate from the menu.  It made for an exciting dinner.  The next two pictures are of the entrees (notice the huge serving sizes):

Finally, we had dessert and it was just as surprising as the rest of the meal.  The name escapes me but it was a concoction of ice cream, egg nog, peaches, and (get this) peanut butter cups.  It was a combination that I never would have put together in a million years.  It worked but it was simply so strange that it was sort of hard to enjoy. 

Dining at Silver Spoon is an adventure and I am happy to have eaten there.  It was quite possibly the most unique dining experience I have ever had.  Everything there defied belief in some respect and for the most part, that was a good thing. 

Silver Spoon can be found at 505 40th St. S, Fargo, ND.  Their phone number is (701) 277-3504.  Reservations are recommended for Friday and Saturday nights. 

Dinner at Bennigan’s

Bennigan’s is a chain Irish pub style restaurant, by which I mean, they have fish and chips on the menu, serve Guinness, and have some cheesy Irish paraphanelia on the walls.  Despite living in close proximity to a Bennigan’s for over a year, I had yet to bring myself to go.  Tonight, however, I went with my sister for dinner.  She ordered a Monte Cristo sandwich.  As best I can tell, it was a ham and swiss sandwich that was dipped in the same batter as they did for the fish and chips (assuming that they freshly bread their fish there; something I am not willing to admit to without more evidence).  My reasons for thinking this are: 1)  The sandwich was completely encased in breading consistent in texture with a ”wet” batter breading and 2) it tasted like fish.  I can only say it was despicably awful. 

I ordered the Guinness Glazed Sirloin.  Normally, it is not my practice to order steaks at lesser restaurants like Bennigan’s.  The meat is inferior as is the cook behind the broiler. But it seemed the best thing on the menu.  Here’s the presentation:

I’ll start with the side dishes.  The potato was lukewarm and covered with sour cream, bacon, cheddar cheese, and green onions.  It was fine as far as potatoes go although it lacked any cripiness in the skin; something I can quite fond of.  The broccolli was warm but just slightly undercooked.  It was also rather unattractively plated with most of the florets facing the plate instead of me.  The steak was cooked correctly to temperature and was served with a Guinness Glaze, which I was supposed to dip the steak into.  The glaze was sort of tasty, I suppose; it was like a sweet A1 sauce.  The steak itself was in need of something flavorful because it was obviously not seasoned before hitting my plate which made it rather bland. 

That leads me to my biggest complaint about this meal:  nothing was seasoned.  The potato was somewhat understandable but neither the broccoli nor the steak had a lick of salt on them before I did.  This bothers me for two reasons: 1) The food tastes bland.  2) I hate having to season food at the table for myself.  A good cook worth his salt is able to correctly season food so the diner does not have to.  When I entertain guests, neither salt nor pepper is put on the table.  I know the food doesn’t need either.  

So, due to carelessness and a lack of seasoning, I cannot recommend Bennigan’s as a dining destination.   

What Constitutes Good Service at a Restaurant?

Slate has an interesting book review that delves into that very question.  My favorite line from the article:  “The secret to service is not servitude, but anticipating desire.”  (I believe a similar statement was made by one of the servants in Gosford Park.)  I think this statement is true.  It is so satisfying to recieve something that you need or desire without having to ask for it.  Obviously, this is great in a restaurant but think of a gift.  Isn’t it better to recieve a gift that you really wanted but didn’t tell the giver that you wanted it?  Or even better, the giver knows you so well that he or she could anticipate that you would like a gift that you weren’t even aware of.  What makes this type of service so special is the fact that the giver is focused enough on your needs to know them better than you do yourself. 

Becky’s Five Cheese Lasagna

This recipe is nice simple lasagna that packs a ton of flavor.  Here’s a slice:

And here’s the recipe:

Becky’s Five Cheese Lasagna

1 pound lasagna noodles

48 oz marinara sauce, preferably homemade (try this recipe)

1 lb ricotta cheese

1 egg

1 cup grated parmesan/romano mix

1 1/2 lb grated mozzarella cheese

1 lb grated cheese of your choice (gouda or havarti are nice choices)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook lasagna noodles according to the package directions.  Mix egg, ricotta cheese, and Parmesan/Romano mix in a small bowl.  Taking a glass baking dish (approximately 9×13 inches) and put a small layer of sauce on the bottom.  Place a single layer of noodles in the pan (cutting noodles as needed to make it fit), and then cover the noodles with a thin layer of the ricotta mixture.  Cover with more sauce and then sprinkle a layer of mozzarella and your cheese of choice.  Repeat the layering in this order until all of your ingredients are used up; end with a layer of cheese.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Uncover and then bake for about 5-10 more minutes or until the top browns.  Serve. 

This recipe comes from Becky and was served at the Groom’s dinner during my wedding.  It was a huge hit then.  A few notes for success:  1)  This should be obvious but use good cheese, especially in choosing the cheese of your choice.  It will make a huge difference in the end product.  2)  Use a good marinara sauce.  Homemade would definitely be the best choice but success can be had with a commercial variety.  3)  If you’re having trouble evenly distributing the ricotta mixture, try putting it on the noodles before you put the noodles in the pan.  The lasagna will stick to your countertop allowing you to spread that sticky cheese mixture on easily.  Enjoy!

Smoked Salmon Pizza with Red Onion and Dill

This recipe comes from The Bon Appetit Cookbook.  The idea of this recipe is to mimic blini with sour cream and smoked salmon.  The original recipe calls for a pre-baked pizza crust but to get the final product even closer to blini, I’ve substituted my favorite whole-wheat pizza crust.  Here’s the recipe:

Smoked Salmon Pizza with Red Onion and Dill

For crust:

1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)

1 tsp honey

1 tsp Kosher salt

1 T extra-virgin olive oil 

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 to 2 cups bread flour

Combine water, honey, and yeast in a bowl (use the stand mixer bowl if using a stand mixer).  Let it sit for about 5 minutes or until the mixture gets foamy.  Then add the Kosher salt and oil.  Then mix in the whole wheat flour.  Then add 1 cup of the bread flour.  Mix it in completely and then add 1/2 cup more of the bread flour.  Mix that in completely and see where your dough is at.  It should be sticky but not sticking to the sides of the bowl.  (If kneading this in by hand, the dough should be sticky but not sticking to your work surface.)  Knead, adding flour as needed, until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Place in an oiled bowl and let rise until doubled, about an hour. 

Punch the dough down and divide into 4 pieces.  Work each of those pieces into a ball and let them sit on the work surface for about an hour.  At this point, the dough can be frozen or rolled out for baking. 

Roll the dough out until it is about 1/8 inch thick.  Then top it with your favorite toppings and bake in a 500 degree oven on a baking stone.  Or, if blind baking, pierce the dough all over with a fork and brush with olive oil.  Then bake for about 5 minutes or until crisp in a 500 degree oven on a baking stone. 

For the pizza:

1 pre-baked pizza crust, either from the recipe above or a purchased 10 oz fully baked pizza crust 

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup minced red onion

1 T chopped fresh dill

2 tsp finely grated lemon peel

1 tsp prepared white horseradish

6 oz thinly sliced smoked salmon

Bake pizza crust. 

Combine the cream cheese, red onion, dill, lemon peel, and horseradish in a small bowl.  Season with salt and pepper. 

Spread the cream cheese mixture over the baked crust after it has cooled a bit, leaving a 1-inch border.  Top with salmon.  Cut into wedeges and serve. 

Here’s a picture:

What I really like about this recipe, besides the obvious fact that it uses smoked salmon, a favorite ingredient of mine, is the lightness of it.  The fresh dill and lemon zest give it a brightness and levity that prevents the pizza from feeling too heavy from the cream cheese and the salmon.  The onion and horseradish give a pleasant bite.  This is a really good dish. 

Peanut Butter Cookies

Alton Brown has a very good peanut butter cookie recipe in his book, I’m Just Here for More Food.  They are tender with just a little bit of bite and have exactly the right amount of peanut butteriness.  Here’s the recipe:

Peanut Butter Cookies, by Alton Brown

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup peanut or other vegetable oil

 2 cups +1 T (20 3/4 oz) chunky peanut butter

3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3 3/4 cups (18 oz) all-purpose flour

1 T baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

sugar for sprinkling on top

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl and mix (Alton recommends doing this by pulsing the mixture a few times a food processor.)  Mix the butter alone in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer for about one minute.  Add the sugars slowly.  Once all of the sugar has been incorporated, beat the mixture on medium speed until it lightens noticeably in texture and increases slightly in volume.  Drop the mixer speed to low and add the peanut butter and oil all in one dose.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and cream for another 2 minutes until well combined. 

Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the eggs and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. 

Add the dry ingredients to the mixture in three installments, scraping down the bowl as necessary.  Chill the dough for about a half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Portion the cookies into golf-ball sized balls (mine were a little smaller) and place on cookies sheets.  (I used half-sheet pans lined with parchment paper but greased cookies sheets should work just fine.)  Use a fork to make a criss-cross pattern on the top and then sprinkle with sugar.  Bake the cookies until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges, about 14 to 17 minutes.  (You can bake two sheets of cookies at a time, just rotate them halfway through the cooking time.)  Let the cookies sit for at least 2 minutes on the pans before removing to a rack to cool completely. 

Here’s a picture:

A few notes:  As with most baking exercises, weighing your ingredients with a digital scale is the preferable method of measurement.  Doing so ensures a consistent product amongst multiple instances of making a recipe as well as accurately following the recipe author’s directions faithfully.  I realize everyone does not have a digital scale but if you are even somewhat serious about baking, I think it a very, very wise investment.  Take some care with the temperature of the ingredients before you bake.  Everything and I mean everything should be at room temperature.  Your dough will come together more easily and you’ll have a better product at the end.  Baking is the culmination of a thousand details and decisions that a baker must attend to.  In essence, baking is all about control and the more control you have over every aspect of the baking process, the better off you’ll be.  Finally, this is a sticky dough so when making the criss-cross patterns on the cookies, wet down your fork and you’ll have an easy time.  Happy baking!

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This is one of my favorite cold weather soups.  It is hearty, thick, and satisfying.  Here’s the recipe:

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups water

10 oz cooked and cubed chicken or turkey

4 1/2 oz pakcage quick cooking, long grain and wild rice with seasonings (or the closest size available)

1/2 tsp salt, optional

1/2 tsp pepper

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

2 cups half and half 

In a large pot over high heat, combine broth and water.  When it comes to a boil, stir in the rice, reserving the seasoning packet.  cover and remove from the heast.

In a small bowl, combine pepper and flour.  In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.  Stir in the contents of the seasoning packet and cook until mixture is bubbly.  Reduce heat to low and then stir in flour mixture to form a roux.  Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Whisk in the half and half, a little at a time until fully incorporated and smooth.  Cook until thickened, about 5 minutes.

 Stir cream mixture into broth and rice.  Cook over medium heat until heated through, 10 to 15 mintues.  Add chicken or turkey.  Taste and adjust any seasonings.  Serve. 

Spicy Rubbed Chicken with Beurre Blanc over Linguine

So this is the recipe that I built this dish around:

Beurre Blanc, based on a recipe by Alton Brown

1/4 cup yellow onion, finely minced

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

8 oz wine

2 oz lemon juice

1 T heavy cream

12 T butter, cold and cut into 12 pieces

Salt and white pepper to taste

Combine the onions, garlic, white wine, and lemon juice in a non-reactive saucepan over high heat and reduce to 2 tablespoons. Add the cream to the reduction.  Once the liquid bubbles, reduce the heat to low.  Add the butter, one cube at a time, whisking first on the heat and then off the heat.  Continue whisking butter into the reduction until the mixture is fully emulsified and has reached a rich sauce consistency.  Season with salt and white pepper.  Serve.

This dish was my first successful attempt at making beurre blanc.  I had tried before a couple of years ago but it turned out terribly.  The reason was that I used some cheap Sutter Home Reisling wine that was no good for drinking and certianly no good for cooking.  While reducing the wine in the recipe (I used the same one), the sauce literally turned blue.  Besides looking absolutely unappetizing, it tasted disgusting.  This time around I used a nice California Chardonnay and it turned out wonderfully.  It was wonderfully acidic and citrusy with the fullness of flavor and mouthfeel that only butter delivers.  Yet, to my surprise, it was not a heavy sauce.  It just had enough body to make it, well, saucy.  It was a nice pair with the spicy rubbed chicken as well as being atop the linguine.  Definitely something I’ll do again.  Here’s what I did:

Spicy Rubbed Chicken with Beurre Blanc over Linguine

Serves 4

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup spice mixture (don’t measure, just toss together salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and paprika)

1 lb dried linguine

Buerre Blanc, recipe above

Rub chicken breasts generously with spice mixture.  Place in the refrigerator while you preheat the grill (or let them sit for about 45 mintues before cooking them in a pan with a bit of oil).  Meanwhile, heat a large pot of boiling, salted water for the pasta.  Grill chicken until cooked all the way through and then slice into strips.  Cook the pasta according to the package directions.  Divide the pasta amongst 4 plates and place a small amount of beurre blanc on the pasta.  Place the chicken from one breast atop each plate and then top each breast with more beurre blanc.  Garnish with some parsley and serve immediately. 

Here’s what it looks like: