Al Dente

Brownie Bake-Off: Maggie's Fudge Brownies

Maggie's Fudge Brownies is a family recipe offered to us by Mary, a reader who was kind enough to share it for this summer's Brownie Bake-off. Most of the brownie recipes I come across call for chocolate, but this one called for cocoa. And it was frosted with a delicious chocolate butter cream.

Clearly this recipe has withstood the test of time, not just the test kitchen. It was easy to follow and quick to make. The brownies came out perfectly, and they were amazing. Mary, your recipe rocks! Thanks for sharing.

Maggie's Fudge Brownies

Frosting

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter or shortening
2 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or to taste
2 tablespoons milk
1-1/3 cups powdered sugar.

Directions:
1. Cream butter and cocoa. Then blend in vanilla and milk. Mix in powdered sugar.

Brownies

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter
14 tablespoons cocoa
2 cups sugar
4 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large saucepan, melt the butter at medium low heat. The add the cocoa and blend well.

2. Add the sugar and keep stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat.

3. Blend in the well beaten eggs followed by the vanilla. Sift in the dry ingredients and blend well. Add walnuts.

4. Turn into a buttered 13 inch x 9 inch x 2 inch baking pan. Bake for 18 minutes.

5. Frost the brownies as soon as them come out of the oven and then cut them. Let cool before eating or serve with ice cream.

Makes 15 large brownies

--Tracy Schneider

A Hangover Cure: Pine State Biscuits' Reggie Deluxe

The Portland Farmers Market at Portland State University (PSU) on Saturdays is one of my favorite Farmers Markets. My family likes to drive down Saturday morning or even Friday evening. We can't be late. If we are, the booth at Pine State Biscuits will run out of its creamtop buttermilk biscuits, and that would be simply unacceptable.

It's easy to find Pine State Biscuits. There's always a long line of people waiting in front. If it's your very first time, you won't mind. It will take you awhile to read through the menu and decide what type of biscuit breakfast you're in the mood for.

Since my trips to Portland are few and far between, I go for it all, the infamous Reggie Deluxe. It's a biscuit topped with fried chicken, bacon, sausage gravy, cheese, and a fried egg. Some say it's a hangover cure.

Pine State has become so popular since its market beginnings in 2006, they now also have their own shop, open seven days a week. So if you can't make it to the Farmers Market or if you arrive too late and find yourself biscuit-less, you can visit them at their new location.

And if you don't plan to be in Portland anytime soon, there's no need to deprive yourself of a biscuit breakfast. Try this simple recipe at home, then slather your homemade biscuits with butter and honey, and you'll be good to go.

--Tracy Schneider

Friday Afternoon Internet Happy Hour: Foodie Links Worth a Click

It's Friday again! Here are a few tasty links the Al Dente editors obsessed about this week:

• Honey Caramel Peach Pie and the story behind it
• "Around the world in 80 dogs." Hot dogs, that is. But, how many can Takeru Kobayashi actually eat in 10 minutes?
• Pop quiz: How many food-related idioms do you know?
• Bostini Cream Pie. Yep, still not pie (though cuter).
• More Jell-O for grown-ups. (For those of you who liked last week's Jell-O link.)
• Bakerella achieves extreme cuteness with cupcakes.
• Just for Dad: Kiss My Spatula cooks up some extra sweetness with Lawnmower Coconut Cupcakes:

 
Photo courtesy of Kiss My Spatula.

While you're out and about, reading up on food news, don't miss Al Dente's most popular posts of the week. Here are a few reader favorites:

• Spanno's pitch to the publishing industry? "Culinary Books I'll Never Get Paid to Write."
• What's in a name? Supernatural brownies.
• An early look at the highly-anticipated Momofuku cookbook.

Did I miss a not-to-be-missed foodie link from this past week? Add a comment or tweet at me!

Have a great weekend!

--KitchenMaus

Spoilt Pig Bacon

As far as I can remember, I've never had dry-cured bacon. It has always been smoked. But I'm dying to try this dry-cured "Spoilt Pig" bacon from Denhay Farms in the UK. The pigs live a stereotypical pig-on-a-farm life before they're turned into deliciousness. Each package is signed by Jack Boyle. Yes, THE Jack Boyle. Whoever that is.

 

Photo courtesy of jackatlargs' photostream.

--Spanno

Spring Lettuces with Strawberries

My last summer in New York City was excruciatingly hot. I was living in a tiny railroad flat in the Village with my sister, who had just graduated from high school and had come to stay with me before she went off to college.

We worked all day and played all night. I had only one fan to cool down the apartment, so we went out every evening to find cooler quarters. Often it was out to dinner, sometimes to the movies, and on the weekends, we went to clubs.

One evening, I still don't know what possessed us, we decided to make dinner. We walked to the grocery store just a few blocks away. Since I kept nothing in the fridge but boxes of leftover takeout, we quickly filled a shopping cart with groceries and proceeded to head home, slowly, in the heat, carrying two bulging grocery bags apiece.

Less than a block from my apartment we passed one of our favorite restaurants, Quattro Stagione. It looked cool and inviting inside. We loved Quattro Stagione for many reasons. It was cheap. It was close by. And dinner always included a salad, their special salad of greens and, unexpectedly, strawberries.

We didn't need more than a moment to agree that a home cooked meal could wait for another day. In we walked with our huge grocery bags. We fit them carefully around our tiny table and proceeded to devour dinner, a big bowl of pasta and that unusual salad.

Quattro Stagione no longer exists, but as best as I can recall, their side salad was simply lettuce in a vinaigrette with strawberries. Now that strawberry season has finally arrived, I'm feeling compelled to recreate Quattro Stagione's salad as best I can. I'm thinking simple mixed greens, good balsamic vinegar, olive oil, a dash of salt, and a grating of pepper. If I'm feeling fancy, I'll add few thin slices of red onion, otherwise I'll let those juicy ripe berries shine on their own.

There are lots of dishes that take advantage of strawberries in season, but there are few quite as simple and unusual as this one.

--Tracy Schneider

Summer Entertaining Persian Style: Sabzi-khordan

Simple entertaining is high on my list for the summer, and I often head out to a nearby Farmers Market over the weekend to gather ingredients for late afternoon drinks with neighbors or friends.

I've lifted this summer's go-to appetizer right off of the traditional Persian table: fresh herbs, feta cheese and flat bread.

Sabzi-khordan is very simply an assortment of fresh herbs and raw vegetables served in a plate or shallow bowl. One of the more typical preparations includes radishes, scallions, mint, basil, and parsley, but in summer when the garden is lush, consider watercress, chives, tarragon, marjoram or any other of your favorite herbs.

This platter of herbs is typically served with Persian flat bread and feta cheese, but since I'm at the Farmers Market, I'll check the stalls for fresh goat cheese and any flat bread I can find. In a matter of minutes, from market to table, I'll have a farm-fresh appetizer to share with guests-Persian style.

--Tracy Schneider

Wake Up Right this Weekend with an Apricot and Berry Smoothie

Weekend breakfasts are so great: no worries about having to rush to work, happily a little slow to wake up, the time to create something truly tasty for mid-or-late-morning eating. If you’re thinking pancakes or waffles for the upcoming weekend, or even something eggier like a quiche, then can I suggest augmenting it with a delish apricot and berry smoothie? Having that side of smoothie starts the weekend day on an even nicer note (if that’s possible), and, luckily there’s a swell video of Adéle Schober blending up this very thing in the awe-inspiring Breville Hemisphere 2-speed blender. Not only will the video ensure you get the measurements right, but you’ll get to learn the recipe while listening to a cute accent, which is never a bad thing.

Mix It Up: Breville Apricot and Berry Smoothie from Breville on Vimeo.

PS: If you wanted to make dad a drink this weekend, but didn’t want to go for the New Orleans Buck too early in the day, then I think this smoothie fits the Father’s Day bill wonderfully. If you want to buy him the blender too, well, you're an awfully good kid.

--A.J. Rathbun

Shaved Ice: Thai Nam Kang Sai

With so many Thai restaurants in Seattle, you'd think it would be easy to find Nam Kang Sai, Thai-style shaved ice. But whoever I spoke with about this icy Thai creation just laughed and told me they didn't know of anyone who served it.

Then, a few weeks ago, I called Sea Thai Restaurant. The woman I spoke with laughed too. I jumped the gun, "You don't sell it either," I blurted out. "No," said the voice on the other line, "but, we're buying an ice machine, and we'll be selling it at the Fremont Fair."

Sea Thai Restaurant is, in fact, selling Nam Kang Sai this weekend at Seattle's Fremont Fair, Saturday and Sunday, June 20th and 21st, so fair goers will have a rare opportunity to sample this popular Thai sweet.

I popped into the restaurant today to meet with owners David and Renoo Ramstad and get a sneak peak at that elusive dessert. (It was, coincidentally, the restaurant's 12-year anniversary.)

Unlike other Asian shaved ice desserts such as Japanese Kakigori, Filipino Halo-halo or Malaysian ABC, Nam Kang Sai's "toppings" are placed at the bottom of the bowl; the shaved ice is served on top. Sea Thai's version began with coconut jelly, palm seeds in syrup, sweetened yellow yams and white bread. Shaved ice was scooped over the toppings, then doused with either red sala (a tropical fruit) or green cream soda syrup and drizzled with condensed milk. In Thailand, I understand, dozens of mix-ins may be added to Nam Kang Sai, but Sea Thai's four toppings were exotic enough for me!

If you're late to the fair or miss it altogether, Nam Kang Sai will be available this summer at Sea Thai Restaurant with 24-hour advance notice.

--Tracy Schneider

Culinary Books I'll Never Get Paid to Write

It seems like anyone with a half-decent food blog has a six-figure book deal. Heck, you don't even need a real blog. Just look at thisiswhyourefat.com--it's just a series of photos. So why don't I have a blog-to-book deal? I'll tell you why. It's because I don't have a niche. The secret to getting paid for your blogging efforts is to consistently write about a very specific topic. The editor of baconunwrapped.com just released her first book a few months ago. Guess what it's about!

Writing a book takes a lot of time--unless you're James Patterson. It seems like that guy puts out a new book every month. You also have to be really passionate about the subject. I love bacon but I couldn't write 200 pages on it. Nobody invented bacon. And it's not like anyone cares about the history of bacon. I could include a bunch of recipes with bacon, but after a while it'd just be a recipe for something normal and then the last step would be "place bacon strips on top".

For enough money I would write a book about anything. Half a mil could get some desperate publisher a 1,000-page treatise on cauliflower. And I hate the stuff. Unfortunately, the topics I'm interested in would barely make a decent blog, let alone a compelling novel. Here are a few hypothetical books, along with synopses, that I'll probably never get paid to write.

Arby's: They Suck Now
How many times can Arby's mess up their signature sandwich and not give out their signature sauce before customers stop going to Arby's? You'll find out in this biting satire written from the point of view of an Arby's manager who's out to take down the entire company one dry beef 'n cheddar at a time.

Eating Food Isn't a Sport
Is everything competitive really a sport? Not according to this author. He redefines the word so that everyday occurrences--like eating or walking--aren't put into the same category as actual skill-based competitions.

Cilantro: The Devils Food
The Devil, tired of his usual tricks, invents a food that people claim to like, but really it tastes like rotting fruit. Eventually it tears the country apart, leading to the death of millions. One man, armed with a perfect palate and the truth, tries to make everyone see the light before it's too late.

Cake v. Pie
Published by Marvel Comics, this graphic novel pits Cake against Pie in a series of pointless no-holds-barred fights. Beautifully drawn and light on dialog, Cake and Pie play chess, eat pizza, explore a cave, and rent a movie. However, they always get into a fight and trash the place. Spoiler alert...Cake wins.

Hot  Dogs Are Funny
Finally! After what seems like months, Spanno finally put all his hot-dog-based posts into the funniest hot dog coffee table book ever written. The photos might make your lose your appetite, but the captions will make you thirsty from laughing so hard that you cry a lot and become dehydrated. On second thought, you probably shouldn't read this one.

The Audacity of Baconnaise
From the shadows of meat-based bacon-flavored foods, emerges Baconnaise, potential hero to all who love the taste of bacon. But can Baconnaise bridge the widening division between vegetarians and normal people? Or will it appeal to no one?

Ode to the Shamrock Shake
Nobody thought it was possible to write 5,000 poems, songs, limericks, sonnets, ballads, and haiku's about McDonald's Shamrock Shake, let alone 10,000 poems, songs, limericks, sonnets, ballads, and haiku's about the venerable seasonal dessert.

"Sideways" is Stupid, Pinot Noir Isn't That Good, and Napa Valley is Overrated
The author seems to be working out some personal frustrations here. With a title this long, you'd think the book would be longer. In the meager 25 pages he manages to insult his family, his friends, the entire state of California, France, pinot grapes, indie films, the entire cast of Grey's Anatomy, merlot (ironically), and, oddly, Spider-Man 3.

--Spanno

The New Orleans Buck: A Summer Drink for Dad

You know what? Dad’s been working hard for you (pretty much your whole life is my guess). Which means that this Father’s Day he deserves to be able to just kick back in an easy chair, maybe one outside, and have you bring him a nice, refreshing, drink. My suggestion? The New Orleans Buck. For one, it has a lot of history, being a part of the Buck family of drinks, a family whose patriarch, the Gin Buck, traces back at least until the 1920s. And serving up a bit of history is always good. Second, the New Orleans Buck has both a relaxing-but-invigorating nature and a bit of a kick, a bit of lime, a bit of ginger, and underlying dark rum accents that mix together perfectly. I used Nicaraguan-made Flor de Cana Grand Reserve 7-year-old dark rum when whipping up one last night, and it tasted dreamy (this rum has a caramel-nutty-full-bodied-ness that dad will dig).

As mentioned, this is part of a family of drinks, so you can alter it easily if you think dad’s going to like one of its siblings better. For an Orange Buck, just substitute old pal gin for rum, and for a Nordic Buck, substitute a good un-flavored vodka. If you want to serve up the classic Gin Buck, make it with gin and no orange juice (and a little more ginger ale). Also, some folks tend to think I have a slightly heavy hand with my rum pour here, so you could reduce it to 2 ounces. But definitely keep the ginger ale and orange juice on equal footing, or expect dad to give you one of those looks.

Ingredients:
Ice cubes
3 ounces dark rum (or a little less, as mentioned)
2 ounces freshly squeezed orange juice
2 ounces chilled ginger ale
Lime wedge for garnish
Lime slice for garnish

Directions:
1. Fill a highball glass three-quarters full with ice cubes. Add the rum.

2. Carefully add the orange juice and the ginger ale at the same time. Stir briefly.

3. Squeeze the lime wedge over the glass and drop it in. Garnish with the lime slice.

 

--A.J. Rathbun