Hot Buns!

I've finally come back to these steamed pork buns that I made last week, they were a first time try and they did not disappoint. After our fourth of July celebrations I had a few racks of pecan smoked ribs leftover and seeing that they were mighty tasty I hated for them to go to waste. After shredding the leftover rib meat I folded it together with some finely diced green onions, garlic, ginger, hosin sauce, sesame seeds and a few drops of roast sesame oil. It only took a few tablespoons of the Asian flavored pork for each bun and after a week of hearty eating it was a perfect lunch.
After making the dough (see below for the recipe), proofing, filling, proofing again and then steaming them (albeit in my makeshift steamer of a large roasting pan and 1/4 sheet pan, topped with a 1/2 sheet pan) I served them with a sauce of equal parts orange juice and tamari, a few passes of orange zest, ginger, garlic and green onion tops thinly sliced. A salad of our lakefront garden greens pulled it all together!
I could have eaten 6 of them but stopped myself at 3. This recipe will definitely be making a comeback, not only were they fun to make but they proved to be a fantastic way to utilize those leftovers that I can never bare to leave un-utilized!

Steamed Bun Dough Recipe
Yields: Enough dough to form 12 buns, can easily be doubled

1/3 Cup warm water
1 teaspoon granulated Sugar
2 teaspoons active dry Yeast
2 Tablespoons granulated Sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons canola Oil
1/4 Cup boiling water
1 large egg, fork-beaten
Approximately 2 1/4 Cups bread Flour

In the bowl of a standing mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the warm water and first amount of sugar until sugar is dissolved. Sprinkle the yeast over top and let stand for 10 minutes. Stir to dissolve yeast.

Stir second amount of sugar, salt and cooking oil in large bowl. Add the boiling water and stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in egg and then add to the yeast mix. Add the flour to the work bowl and on low speed beat the mixture till a soft dough forms. Change the paddle attachment to the dough hook and knead for 5-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Place the dough in a greased bowl (spray with pan spray), flipping the dough to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot for 1 1/2 hours to rise. Once the dough has doubled, punch it down and allow it to rest covered for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 12 inch log. Cut the dough in to 12 even rounds. Roll the dough out to a 3-5 inch round with a lightly floured rolling pin. Place a few tablespoonfuls of filling in the center and then pull the sides of the dough up, twisting lightly to close. Place on a greased sheet pan and cover with a towel. Allow to rest for 15 minutes before steaming.

Steam for 10 minutes, serve warm.

*The best way to steam these buns is with a bamboo steamer set over a pan of lightly simmering water. Find one here.

Moonrise

I have a hard time adjusting to the amazingly long days here in Montana. The sunrises around 5:45 but it doesn't set until 9:30-10:00. It's wonderful to have such a long day ahead of you, and the full moon makes the evenings almost as bright. In the past, I've taken advantage of the full moon alone with a glass of wine on my porch, but this summer all that changed. The boys over at the local rafting company invited us to a full moon float. We left the lodge by 10:30 pm and by 11:30 pm we were on our way to the base of the local dam. After getting the raft to the shore and shuffling cars to our final destination we embarked on an hour long trip down the river. The cool air was tempered by the warm water and the rapids that we encountered balanced out the calm. It was a long, beautiful and very wet experience. I wish I could have taken pictures, but I hated the idea of sacrificing my camera to the river. We wrapped up around 3:30 am and headed back to the lodge.
Before I started my evening of rafting I prepared a "last supper" for our guests that were departing early the next day. The dessert turned out beautifully, a sweet-tart apricot galette encased in a cornmeal pate sucre and then topped with house made ice cream and a drizzle of apricot syrup.
The stone fruit available in this portion of the US is unbelievable. I think we must receive the riper fruit, considering these beauties wouldn't be able to a survive a cross country trip. In another few weeks we'll have local apricots and cherries galore! These Washington apricots were picked up from the local grocery, and after a quick blanch to remove their soft skin they were ready for the cornmeal crust (see the recipe at the bottom of the post).

Of course before dessert we enjoyed a dinner of fresh Sockeye Salmon, shipped in earlier that day from the Pacific Northwest, over truffled creamed corn, lightly wilted baby bok choy from our lakefront garden and then finished with a yellow tomato and crispy bacon vinaigrette. It was delicious and beautiful. The salmon was oven roasted and the vinaigrette was flecked with finely diced shallots, fresh thyme and parsley from our herb garden (pictures of the herb garden to come) and leftover bacon from breakfast that morning. (see below for the vinaigrette's recipe)

Cornmeal Pate Sucre
Yields: Enough pastry for 1-15 inch galette or 12 individual galettes

2 Cups all-purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon Sugar
16 Tablespoons (8 ounces)butter, cold and cubed
6-8 Tablespoons cold water

Filling for Tart
3 #pounds of your favorite fruits, prepared (washed, sliced, blanched etc.)
1 Cup Sugar
2 Tablespoons all-purpose Flour

For the dough; In the work bowl of a food processor combine the dry ingredients and pulse to combine. Add the cold, cubed butter to the dry ingredients and pulse 10-12 times till the butter is cut into the flour mix. Turn the butter/flour mix into a large bowl and slowly add the butter in, working the mix into a dough with your fingers. You want just enough water for the dough to come together when you press it into a disk. Too much water is a recipe for disaster, go slow-you may need less and you may need more than noted in the recipe. Gently form the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 1/2 an hour hour. Roll the disc of dough out into a large circle, about 1/4 inch thick. Place the dough onto a silpat lined sheet pan, fill with your fruit filling leaving about 2-3 inches of dough on the outside rim. Casually fold the sides of the dough over the filling, brush lightly with an egg wash and sprinkle with raw sugar. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and bake for 30-45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the cooking time. Remove from the oven and allow the galette to rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Yellow Tomato and Crispy Bacon Vinaigrette
Yields: 2 Cups

1 pound Yellow tomatoes, peeled, seeded and roughly diced
1/4 cup diced shallot
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped
3 Tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1/2 Cup extra virgin olive oil
5-6 slices of cooked bacon, chopped (re-crisp in a saute pan if needed, you want it to be crispy!)

Easy enough, fold together all of the ingredients except the bacon. Taste for salt and pepper, then fold in the crispy bacon right before serving.

Summer Sweets!

I had the great pleasure of working with Chef Anne Kearney years ago (!) at one of New Orleans finest restaurants, Peristyle. I worked with Anne for almost five years and for the last year of my time spent there I was her Pastry Chef. I've never truly embraced my love for desserts, they are much to concise, but looking back I'm glad I had the chance to practice those skills in such a fine establishment. While I now practice a much more casual plan of attack, the desserts here at the lodge never fail to finish the meal and sate the sweet tooth that our guests would never admit to having. Here are some of examples of what we have enjoyed so far this summer.

Wally, otherwise known as "Boss Man" loves his chocolate! Above was one of the first chocolate desserts I made. This Chocolate Cake was baked in pop-over pans (recipe below) and then finished with a warm Salted Walnut Caramel. It was divine and the cake is an easy one bowl concoction made with coffee.

When we have smaller groups of guests (around 8-10) I have a few assorted individual molds that I use mainly for desserts. These porcelain cobbler dishes were filled with huckleberries, blueberries and rhubarb from our lake front garden. The crispy almond and oatmeal streusel is crispy enough to play off the texture of the soft fruit underneath, but not hard enough to prevent the signature juicy runoff that makes a crisp a crisp. Another one of my go to recipes (see below for the recipe) for all the beautiful fruit that we are able to get our hands on all summer long.

We are fortunate enough to have rhubarb all summer long. With a much cooler summer the rhubarb season starts in late March and if we are lucky it will take us through late August. Jessi plants the rhubarb on the perimeter of the lake front garden as a natural deer repellent, its leaves are toxic. Many more rhubarb desserts to come!

Last night I had a chocolate dessert request and went with this Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe. I topped this uncharacteristically moist cake with Ginger Mint Whipped Cream. Too often flourless chocolate cake tends to be very dense, I almost under bake mine so that the center remains moist but the signature crunchy crust remains. (recipe below)

Our fourth of July dessert featured the most delicious Alpine strawberries the local farmers market has to offer. These are honestly the most delicious strawberries ever! They are tiny, about the size of a dime but what they lack in size they more than make up for in flavor. Each berry packs a jolt of summer sweetness with just a tiny bit of tang at the end...absolutely luscious! Strawberries will hopefully be in our future for another few weeks. The season is never long enough, but I will do my best to procure as many as I can for as long as I can.

The napoleon above was quick and easy dessert. A basic crushed Almond Florentine cookie (recipe below) layered with unsweetened whipped cream, the Alpine beauties and finished with a snowfall of confectioners sugar made for an appropriate finish. Off to cook lunch....

One Bowl Chocolate Cake
Yields-16 individual cakes

1 Tablespoon Butter, melted
2 Cups all-purpose Flour
1 Cup granulated Sugar
1/4 Cup Cocoa
6 Ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 egg
1 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups very hot Coffee

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, and lightly spray 16 popover molds* with pan spray. In the work bowl of a standing mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine all of the dry ingredients and beat on low speed. Lightly whisk the eggs together with the vanilla and add to the mixing bowl, still working on low speed. Slowly, to keep yourself from splashing, add the hot coffee to the batter and mix for a few minutes, still on low speed, until all of the ingredients are incorporated and the batter is smooth. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking time, for 25-30 minutes. The cakes should be slightly domed and should spring back lightly when cooked through. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow them cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Unmold the cakes onto a cooling rack. Frost, drizzle or sprinkle them with your favorite icings, sugars or sauces. Serve.

*You don't need popover pans to bake these cakes, try using cupcake pans (filling only halfway), 2-8 inch cake pans or even a 13 X 9 inch baking pan for a sheet cake. Alternatively you can find the popover pans that I use here.

Fruit Crisp Recipe
Yields enough for 1 large crisp or 12 individual crisps (you can also use this as a crumb topping for a pie)*

1/2 Cup all-purpose Flour
1/2 Cup granulated Sugar
1 Cup Oatmeal
1/2 cup toasted Nuts (use your favorite or a blend)
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
2 scratches of Nutmeg
1 (4 ounces) stick cold butter, cubed

2 Pounds fruit, chopped or berries
1 Cup granulated Sugar
1/4 Cup all-purpose Flour

In the work bowl of a food processor combine the flour, sugar, oatmeal, nuts and spices. Pulse 2-3 times to combine the dry ingredients thoroughly. Add the cold, cubed butter to the work bowl and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal (forget all that nonsense about it looking like peas, I always thought that was a poor comparison).

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a large baking dish or your individual molds with pan spray and set to the side. In a large mixing bowl toss the fruit or berries (or a mix) with the flour and sugar. Place the flour/sugar tossed fruit into the prepared molds and then generously top with the crisp mixture. Place the dishes or dish on a sheet pan and bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, remember you want your crisp to be golden brown and the fruit should be bubbly, if your lucky you'll get the all important juicy runoff down the sides). Allow the crisp to sit for up to 1/2 hour before serving,but it will be ready to go after 10 minutes. Serve with whipped cream or even better ice cream!

*The recipe for the crisp is easy to double or triple, keep it in a ziplock bag in the freezer and you'll always be ready for a quick dessert.

Flourless Chocolate Tart
Yields: 1-9inch spring form pan cake

10 Ounces dark chocolate, chopped
10 Tablespoons (5 ounces) butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated Sugar
7 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat the inside and base of a spring form pan with pan spray and then generously dust with granulated sugar, tossing any extra. Over a double boiler (or in the microwave) melt the chocolate. Allow chocolate to cool slightly before proceeding. In the work bowl of a standing mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar until pale yellow and airy. Add the vanilla extract followed by the melted chocolate. Lightly, by hand, whisk in the egg yolks and set to the side. Again, working in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites with the salt until stiff peaks form. Carefully fold the egg whites into the chocolate base, working in three batches. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. It is very important to not over bake this cake, when it is ready the top should be crispy looking, and when touched the cake below should have just a bit of jiggle left to it. Remove from the oven and place the pan on a cooling rack and put it straight into the fridge. After 30-45 minutes, the cake will be ready to slice but not cold. Cut patiently, and serve with whipped cream or with a dusting of confectioners sugar.

Crushed Almond Florentine Cookie
Yields: about 3 dozen palm sized cookies.

1 Cup brown Sugar
8 Tablespoons (4 ounces) butter
1/2 Cup Corn Syrup
2/3 Cup all-purpose Flour
1 cup sliced Almonds

In a heavy bottomed sauce pot combine the brown sugar, butter and corn syrup, melt together over medium low heat. While that is melting together, combine the flour and almonds in the work bowl of the food processor and pulse on and off until the almonds are very well crushed. Add the flour/almond mix to the melted butter mix and stir.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a sheet pan with a silpat* and place 6 tablespoon sized globs of the dough. Bake for 8-9 minutes, rotating halfway through. The cookies will triple in size, will look lacy and be golden brown. Baking times on these cookies vary greatly with each oven so keep adding on the minutes, rotating the pans until they reach the perfect toasted brown color. Once the color is right, remove the sheet pan from the oven and using tongs pull the silpat off the sheet pan onto the counter. Allow the cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes then carefully remove them from the silpat by gently bending the silpat under the cookie and place them on a paper towel to remove any excess butter. When cool store them in an airtight container separated by small pieces of paper towel or parchment. Depending on humidity they will be crisp for 3-5 days.

* A silpat is a fantastic heat resistant (up to 500 degrees) baking sheet liner that is reusable. Never use them under the broiler or put in the dishwasher, hand wash and dry only! You can find one here.

Seven Year Itch

It occurred to me that in my last seven years of my summers spent at the lodge and the last three of them that I have spent writing about them that I've never shared a picture of my actual cabin on the lake. With an eastern view of the lake from my screened in porch I am lucky enough to be awakened with every sunrise of the summer, cool breezes keep my screened in porch pleasant enough for afternoon naps and reading, and the flower boxes that I start each year keep the breeze full of intoxifying scents.

One of my favorite rituals of starting a new summer is the visit that I make with Jessi (our gardener extraordinaire and breakfast cook) to the Southshore Greenhouse. Kathy, owner of Southshore, always has something new for me to discover and with her help I am able to create some beautiful boxes to make my porch even more habitable then should be allowed.

Every summer brings a fresh color and scent explosion and the hues of summer number 7 are all pale greens, silvery grays, whites and purples. Very "Gray Gardens"! The boxes are filled with all sorts of delights ranging from the deep purple and green leaves of Sweet Caroline, white pom pom shaped clusters of Verbena, Superbells tickled with pink, soft gray-green Silver Licorice Vine with the texture of lambs ears, the intoxifying scent of Ginger Mint, Heliotrope (my favorite this year) and the Lady Plymouth Geranium with the smells of rose and ginger that grace the green and yellow leaves that need only the caress of the hand to bring its heady scent into action.
White Diamond Frost, looks like tiny orchids trailing on a soft green vine, silvery-gray Dusty Miller and Spider Flower Cleome complete the boxes that wouldn't be the same without them.

The indispensable Gator, our all terrain and all purpose gardening, grocery toting monster, helped me move them from the back of the car and before I knew it I was wrapped up in planting. There are few things that can beat the satisfaction of getting just the right amount of dirty when the results are so satisfying everyday, and with every step in and out of my porch.

A few years ago, when I decided that I couldn't imagine a summer with out a trip to "my" lake front cabin I started adding personal touches that became infectious amongst myself and the owners of the property. One of the first changes that I made was to turn the porch floor from its dirty, worn white into a mixture of color blocked stripes in light blue, pale green and gray. Lil, the owner was so impressed with the results that when she passed by the green wicker chairs she couldn't resist buying them for my newly appreciated porch. The porch wouldn't be the same without them and if I could have left the flowers in their individual containers, without the worry of wilt and malnutrition, I would have kept them just that way.

One of the major changes of this summer is that we have decided that it's time to start collecting our photographs and my recipes into a book. No title yet, but we have spent some time scouting for other places than the Point in which to take a few more photos. Of course Kathy's green house was one of the first places to visit. Her greenhouse is one of the most magical places in the world! Its the perfect mix of bloomers, foliage, vintage pieces and utility that I have ever experienced.
Every time I come here, I can't stop myself from wishing that the main thoroughfare through the green house was wide enough to house a long table for a once in a lifetime dining experience. Luckily for us, outside her greenhouse there are plenty of options for an evening dinner and I will share photos of those in the coming weeks.
It feels wonderful to start sharing my summers with you again! The seven year itch has yet to make its appearance! Eat Well!