... a spirited celebration of regional food and culinary craft, season by season, with original recipes by Susan S. Bradley
Wet, bone-chilling Northwest winters demand a repertoire of inspired, nourishing, soul-lifting soups. So this January, LunaCafe OtherWorldly Kitchen is all about soup. I’m challenging myself to create four new meal-in-a-bowl soups by the end of the month.
I’ve been making roux since I began to cook our weekday meals in the second grade. In my family, a light golden roux was the base for pan gravy, which was the mandated accompaniment to mashed potatoes. Many years later, I learned about a darker version, which is the base for French brown sauces and traditional Creole dishes, such as Gumbo.
In my estimation, the ultimate Thanksgiving gravy depends on a properly made roux. It’s not difficult to produce and lends the gravy a roasted flavor dimension that can’t be obtained with a simple flour and water or cornstarch and water slurry.
If you have been reading this blog over the 15 months of its existence, you probably know by know that I am very fond of two flavors to an inordinate degree: lavender and lime. You may even remember the Blueberry Lavender Limeade I created this past summer. That inspired flavor combination still lingers in my mind.
A cursory review of the web will tell you, if you don’t know already, that everyone thinks their meatloaf (or their Mom’s meatloaf) is the best meatloaf in this or any other world. Actually, I have to agree. I have loved every homemade meatloaf I have ever eaten. When I’m eating it, it’s definitely the Best. Add spicy gravy or sweet, sticky ketchup glaze and a perfect mash of potatoes, and I am in Heaven!
Macaroni and Cheese is one of the easiest dishes in the world to prepare and surely one of the most wonderful, which probably accounts for the million-and-one versions that hurried, hungry folks have come up with over the years. (If you read to the end of this post, you will get to my most fabulous rendition, which I promised you a few weeks ago in Quintessential Mac & Cheese, Part 1, which reviews the best of all the Mac & Cheese I ate last year in Seattle, Portland, and Boston restaurants, complete with photos.)
This dish evokes the country-style cooking of countless generations of women feeding their families on the bounty of their own farms and surrounding countryside. As is often the case with foods found growing together in the same region, apples and hazelnuts have a happy affinity for one another. Add a creamy mustard sauce to the mix, along with a succulent chicken, and you have a sensational meal.
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