Progressive Toast: 100 Days of Recipes, Day 49

You know that thing where you've made a new dish, it's really tasty yet while you're eating it you're thinking about what you want to do to it the next time you make it? Well that happened.

Last night's Market Veggie sandwich gave me some ideas, and that turned into today's lunch:

I love how food pops on this tenmoku-glazed small plate. And I love how the
plate pops on this tea-cup towel!

Toasted levain, with Roots' Mango Sriracha Hummus, some cucumbers, radish sprouts, and a drizzle of pomegranate vinegar. Crusty, spicy, cool, fresh, sweet, crunchy, and just a bit of a twang. Every bite a delight.

Some days, you punt. 100 Days of Recipes: Day 15

Some days, you punt.

Yesterday was one of those days - busy on the phone and computer before I left the house, and then busy at the studio, trying to continue glazing for my firing at the end of the week, with visions and thoughts swirling in my head from my busy-ness earlier in the morning. So it really didn't surprise me that something was just enough 'off' that I kind of kept running into myself. 

Studio Snacking Survival Kit

And while I didn't remember to post this yesterday, this was totally my recipe for surviving the day - small snacks so I could at least stop and distract myself for a few minutes and avoid any blood sugar "hangry" episodes (believe me, the day didn't need any help being dysfunctional!). My go-to items in this survival kit are often the same: Roots Hummus with dipping veggies, nuts and dried fruit, apple and peanut butter. And water - I did a marginal job on that yesterday, but I did stay fueled!

Today I'm a gallerina, so I can be more thoughtful about yesterday's folly and plan for my final glazing session tomorrow while my last bisque kiln cools. Today is also a special day in our studio, so my Day 16 post will be in that celebration - stay tuned!

Hello January!

Well this little blog may yet be the best example of just what a whirlwind the end of 2014 was for me. I popped in to share a new lovely blog I just discovered (Pepper and Salt - linked on the blog roll on the right), but maybe a brief re-cap of the past several months, and then we'll move ahead into the new year!

It seems I left the blog just as I left for a most wonderful, three-week adventure of cooking by the ocean. I was at Sandbridge Beach, VA, feeding three consecutive 'camps' of people studying hammered dulcimer. In short, my good friend Laurie M., herself a mighty fine hammered dulcimer player and attendee at the camp, asked me if I was interested when the chef who had been doing the job had to decline because of a schedule conflict. Stepping away from the studio for three weeks, not to mention three weeks during busy season, is not a light decision. The logical answer would have been 'of course not, but thank you', but three weeks cooking at the beach sounded like too much of a good thing to pass up, and it was the absolute best working vacation. Ever. Besides, it was a lot of fun telling people I was off to cook for the hammered dulcimer camp. You know, as one does... If it weren't for my extremely fabulous studio and Collective-mates, it never would have happened. They are the BEST.

So three weeks of this:

my morning routine: coffee and a nice walk on the beach at sunrise

It never got old, this...

And of this:

Sunday night is Crab Night!

Baked fish and Grilled chips

I really thought I'd have plenty of time to document and record here all my stellar recipes and local finds, but I was kept busy enough that I was happy to make some scribbles in my notebook at the end of the night before crashing. And yes, that was one of the reasons it was so much fun! I'll put some recipes up under separate posts (this is already long enough!).

You will find a recipe for this Gluten Free Strawberry Corn Cake on my Crazy Green Studios website food blog:

Looks and tastes like summer!

My days: a meditation at the beach with a cup of coffee at sunrise, followed by a nice walk down the beach. 

Only three days of rain in three weeks. Sigh.

Back to the house for breakfast and to share the menu plan with the 'campers', then check the fridge and cupboard stock and head off for groceries. This could take anywhere from 1-3 hours, depending on where I went and how much shopping was happening. The upside to having just one regular fridge for my 'stock' and one for the campers to keep breakfast, lunch and snacks on hand was that I had to shop every day. I love shopping fresh every day! The closest grocery store was about 6 miles, but of course one shops and compares, and some days I hit the Farmers Market or drove out to the Whole Foods or hit the other local grocers. Happily, the 'good' fish place was the closest as well as the best, so I was a regular face at Bonney & Sons, and they always had just what I needed! Even more happy, I found a wonderful farm stand on the way into town, and that also became a daily stop. Cromwells Produce had veggies so fresh, one time I asked the young proprietress if there was more kale, and she went outside and cut more for me! All that, and a very cute mascot:

Ruckus - happy greeter at Cromwells Produce.

After shopping, it was back to the house, where on lucky days I'd find campers or spouses on hand to help me bring the 8-12 bags of groceries upstairs to the kitchen. By then lunch would be just starting or finishing, so after lunch (and another assessment of the fridge and cupboard), I'd start prep for the happy hour snacks and dinner. I'd often have help from some of the camper spouses/family, which always made it more fun and a lot easier (cooking for about 28 each night), and I think we all made a stellar team of choppers, washers, grillers and general helpers!

some of my volunteer helper army

Happy Hour would include an array of nibbles before dinner, and I was able to share some local (to me) love with the campers thanks to the very generous Roots Hummus, who made sure that no camper went hungry for hummus!

new hummus fans across the country and around the world!

After dinner, I enjoyed a tremendous perk of having the campers clean up the kitchen while I watched (just to make sure I knew where things were going). By then, it's a 12 hour day or so, and a few quick notes in the book are about all I had steam for, but what a blast!!

After three weeks, it was a very fond farewell and back to the life of a potter who just loves to cook. I had a lot of curious questions from folks wondering if I was changing careers again. Not at all - I am a very happy full time potter, and a lucky one who gets to spend a lovely three week vacation cooking for a very receptive crowd at the beach. I'm already looking forward to joining my camper friends again later this fall!

the reward: happy diners tucking into a delicious meal!

Sweet, Salty, Crunchy, Chewy, Spicy, Smooth and Cool

All in one bite? Well, maybe two, but it's all here. Certain occasions call for a little extravagance and even a bit of decadence. I've been working on this recipe to make as a little cocktail nibble for an event coming up, and I believe this version is worthy of at least trying to write it down as a recipe. 

Sweet, Salty, Crunchy, Chewy, Spicy, Smooth and Cool

Spicy Candied Duck Bacon with Mango/Sriracha Hummus*

*this is a very specific sort of recipe, calling on very specific ingredients. If you have access to my same ingredients, I highly recommend trying this. If not, I highly recommend using what you have available and making your own interesting version. This recipe is also based on creating a tasty tidbit for about 25 people, so adjust as needed for your own consumption. :)

a test run with pork bacon - also good!

Ingredients:

1 pound thinly sliced duck bacon*
   *from Katuah Market if you're local to Asheville, NC, but it's been tested with 'regular' bacon too.

1 cup raw cane sugar
1 cup maple sugar**
3/4 TBSP cayenne (or more or less based on your own heat index)
1 1/2 TBSP ground ginger
1 TBSP freshly grated ginger
2 TBSP blackstrap molasses

Roots Mango Sriracha Hummus***

Preheat oven to 375F.

Line a large sheet cake pan with parchment paper, then place a cooling rack on top. Make sure the paper is well below the rack and not touching the top bars.

**I know maple sugar isn't easy to find everywhere (I also found that at Katuah), but using it over maple syrup gives a nicer candy texture, and less moisture as it cools. If you are using maple syrup, I suggest a higher ratio of the cane sugar to the syrup.

NOTE: Duck bacon shrinks. A lot. That was a bit of a surprise, so if you want 'cocktail' portions, keep your strips at about 4" long, as they'll shrink up a good bit but will provide a nicely concentrated bite of flavor!

If you need to cut down your bacon strips, so that and set aside.

Combine the dry sugars, gingers and cayenne in a shallow bowl and mix thoroughly to combine and coat the grated ginger with the sugars. Drizzle the molasses on top, and again using your fingers, quickly combine to distribute the molasses throughout. 

a touch of molasses adds a nice richness

ANOTHER NOTE: You might want to keep a damp towel on hand, as you're about to cover your hands in sugary fun. And if you have any small cuts on your fingers, the cayenne pepper will find them. :)

Take each bacon slice and coat each side with the sugar mix. If it doesn't stick well, get one side coated as much as possible, then place the slice on the cooling rack that's placed on the parchment lined sheet cake pan. Add more sugar mix to the top in an even layer. Repeat with remaining slices (you may have to do a couple of batches - you can keep the slices close, but don't let them touch).

I should have taken the "after" picture to show the shrinkage

Place in the pre-heated oven and check after 12 minutes. Rotate the pan, then check again in another 5 minutes. The bacon will get darker, and the extra sugars will drip down onto the parchment and will, just at the moment the bacon is perfectly cooked, start to scorch and might even smoke. Be patient to make sure the bacon is cooked well, but watch it carefully because you don't want burnt sugar bacon!

Remove from the oven when done, and move the bacon rack onto a clean piece of parchment. Use tongs to loosen the bacon from the rack, and let cool completely.

To serve, place a small dollop of Roots Mango Sriracha Hummus*** on one end of each bacon strip. You can serve on a platter, or place each strip in a mini-muffin cup.

***a new flavor from Roots, currently available via Whole Foods and eventually in other stores as well. If your WF store doesn't carry Roots yet, go ask for it! You can try another flavor/hummus for this recipe, but I can't think of one with the specific flavor combination that works as well. The light sweetness and lingering spice are actually a cooling foil to the salty spice of the bacon. 

Storing/Serving Note: You can make this ahead, and store between layers of parchment paper. While it doesn't necessarily need refrigeration, I found that the texture benefited - store it without the hummus, then take it out of the fridge at least 10 minutes before you want to serve, and add the dollop of hummus at that time.