HomeHomehttp://www.tanyaspantry.com/home/2012-05-02T20:01:34ZSquarespaceThe Cookbook Projecthttp://www.tanyaspantry.com/home/2012/5/2/the-cookbook-project.htmlTanya's Pantry2012-05-02T19:59:31Z2012-05-02T19:59:31ZFollow along as I work through the 176 cookbooks in my collection. I'll review them and share my thoughts, results and recipes with you!

]]>Canning Basics October 23http://www.tanyaspantry.com/home/2011/10/21/canning-basics-october-23.htmlTanya's Pantry2011-10-21T19:21:43Z2011-10-21T19:21:43ZIf you've ever wondered how to can and preserve foods, here's a great workshop for you. I happen to have a TON of apples right now, so we'll process them into things like applesauce, apple butter and chutneys - whatever you'd like. These are super easy to do, so great for canning first-timers. And, it's always more fun with friends!

I'll provide all the equipment, ingredients, recipes and lids. If you have any pint or smaller-size jars that you'd like to use, please bring them.

Sunday, Oct. 23 from 3 to 6 p.m., 2812 NE 8th Ave.

Cost will be $10 per person, and will include some snacks, and taking home several jars of goodies (depending on how much we do)!

Email me to reserve your spot - class size will be limited!

]]>Homemade Bacon and Worchestershire - Jan. 17http://www.tanyaspantry.com/home/2010/1/5/homemade-bacon-and-worchestershire-jan-17.htmlTanya's Pantry2010-01-05T18:57:31Z2010-01-05T18:57:31ZWell, since it's the new year I thought I'd ruin all your resolutions about eating less pork fat and stuff by hosting another homemade bacon workshop on January 17 from 3 to 6 p.m. We're also gonna make Worchestershire sauce, which I've wanted to do for a while now. The contribution for this workshop will be $30 and will include about 3.5 pounds of bacon (delivered about one week later after aging/smoking) and/or pancetta and a bottle of Worchestershire, plus a lifetime of memories! Email me if you'd like to be one of the 10 lucky ones to participate in the first of the 2010 pantries!

]]>Spatchcocking!http://www.tanyaspantry.com/home/2009/11/30/spatchcocking.htmlTanya's Pantry2009-12-01T07:59:00Z2009-12-01T07:59:00ZI've been practicing spatchcocking with chickens all fall in preparation for Thanksgiving. This method cooks the bird faster and more evenly, and solves the age-old problem of the breast drying out before the thighs are done. So here it is, my first instructional video!

]]>Thanksgiving Recaphttp://www.tanyaspantry.com/home/2009/11/30/thanksgiving-recap.htmlTanya's Pantry2009-12-01T03:14:23Z2009-12-01T03:14:23ZThanks to Kate for the photos!

Well, it was yet another epic year here at our house. We hosted about 75 friends for Thanksgiving dinner. Needless, to say I'm still getting caught up with everything - including this blog! So, how do we do it? And more importantly, what did we eat!?

How we do it

  1. We have very good friends who do these things often. (This was our 10th or 11th big Thanksgiving.) We ask for help, and we get it. We don't ask for help and we get it anyway, because everyone just knows what needs to be done and does it - and with style and grace. Things get moved. Side dishes are made. Dishes get washed. Recycling goes out. That's the kind of friends we have.
  2. I happen to have plenty of catering equipment - gathered over the years starting with our own wedding, when we bought plates and glasses instead of renting. These have now been used dozens and dozens of times over the last 7+ years. Every year I add a litle more to the collection, so now we have service for 100, chafing dishes, napkins and more.
  3. We move everything out of the living and dining room and put down low tables made several years ago just for Thanksgiving. So we all sit on the floor on pillows and such - you can fit a lot more people in that way!
  4. Finally, Facebook (and before that Tribe and Evite) keeps all the communication and guest list in order!

What we ate!

  1. Turkeys, of course. My husband Matthew is renowned for his smoked turkeys, and it's no wonder - they're the most delicious turkeys around! He brines 'em for 10 to 12 hours and smokes 'em for about 6 hours. They are moist and tasty! Every year I like to play around and experiment a little with the roasted birds, which we also make so we have the drippings for gravy (and more turkey). This year, it was Iron Chef Jose Garces' Citrus Marinated Turkey, which included chipotle, annato paste (a new ingredient for me), orange juice and roasted garlic. It required a 24-hour brining and a 24-hour marinade. I'm told it was really stellar (I just got one quick bite myself), and the gravy was divine! The other roasted turkey (a 19+ pounder that I spatchcocked) I did simply with butter and our friend's Rivera's Rubs, a Puerto Rican spice rub that's pretty much good on just about anything you use it for! Our friend Rich, a butcher, also brought us a TurDuckEn, which went so fast I couldn't believe it. Despite the four turkeys and the TurDuckEn, we had NO leftovers for sandwiches. So, Friday our friend Bryndl went out and bought another 23-pound bird, which we roasted with butter and chimichurri rub. This, too was gone almost immediately, but I managed to save just enough for about four sandwiches, our first in several years.
  2. Everyone brings a side dish, and this year they were particularly stellar. Of the ones I was able to taste, I remember particularly Chet's cornbread sausage stuffing; Sabrina's chanterelle, spinach and cheese casserole; the other Sabrina's radicchio, brie and caramelized onion dish; Diana's lemon and lime tartlets and Shanti's mashed potato and carrots and peas cupcakes, which looked so realistic but tasted so good!
]]>Chicken Soup Redeuxhttp://www.tanyaspantry.com/home/2009/11/10/chicken-soup-redeux.htmlTanya's Pantry2009-11-10T17:06:47Z2009-11-10T17:06:47ZWith several friends down sick with the flu last week, I thought it would be good to make some chicken soup. But I didn't want to make it basic. Enter Barefoot Contessa and her Italian Wedding Soup. Chicken broth with chicken meatballs and lovely veggies. I found chicken breasts on sale and ground them myself for the meatballs- super easy and frugal, too. Perfect!

I have every one of Ina's cookbooks. Her recipes are elegant, simple and always accessible. No crazy ingredients or techniques. She loves to cook but also loves to live her life and that's what I adore about her. So, if you're tired of the same ol' chicken soup, give it a shot.

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

  • 3/4 pound ground chicken
  • 1/2 pound chicken sausage, casings removed
  • 2/3 cup fresh white bread crumbs
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
  • 1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano
  • 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
  • 3 tablespoons milk
  • 1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the soup:

  • 2 tablespoons good olive oil
  • 1 cup minced yellow onion
  • 1 cup diced carrots (3 carrots), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
  • 3/4 cup diced celery (2 stalks), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
  • 10 cups homemade chicken stock
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 1 cup small pasta such as tubetini or stars
  • 1/4 cup minced fresh dill
  • 12 ounces baby spinach, washed and trimmed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the meatballs, place the ground chicken, sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Pecorino, Parmesan, milk, egg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a bowl and combine gently with a fork. With a teaspoon, drop 1 to 1 1/4-inch meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (You should have about 40 meatballs. They don't have to be perfectly round.) Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.

In the meantime, for the soup, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and saute until softened, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken stock and wine and bring to a boil. Add the pasta to the simmering broth and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the pasta is tender. Add the fresh dill and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute. Taste for salt and pepper. Stir in the fresh spinach and cook for 1 minute, until the spinach is just wilted. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with extra grated Parmesan.

 

]]>Cookbooks as Edible Adventureshttp://www.tanyaspantry.com/home/2009/11/4/cookbooks-as-edible-adventures.htmlTanya's Pantry2009-11-04T20:54:26Z2009-11-04T20:54:26ZI love the New York Times dining and wine section. After the home page, it's the first section I visit. As a cookbook collector (I have nearly 200), today's article on Cookbooks as Edible adventures (registration required) is a great one. I particularly love the line, "Bonding with a new one means assuming a new identity, if only for a week or two."

My favorite place in the houseI actually read my cookbooks all the way through when I get them. There's nothing more I love to do than sit on the love seat in my kitchen and do that - it's heaven to me!

Here's what's on my Christmas list this year (links to Powell's listings):

  • My New Orleans by John Besh. I had the wonderful experience of eating at August the last time I was in NOLA and am excited to see what this amazing chef turns out. I just can't get enough of that city or its food!
  • Why Italians Love to Talk about Food by Elena Kostioukovitch. I love everything about Italian food, and this sounds like a great holiday read.
  • My Bread by Jim Lahey. This is the guy who's perfected the no knead bread recipe and this book is all about that. Bring on the easy homemade bread!
  • The Joy of Jams, Jellies and other Sweet Preserves by Linda Ziedrich. As someone who's been really getting into home canning in the last year, this book is exciting. And big bonus - Linda is from Oregon.

What's on your list for favorite cookbooks of 2009?

]]>Wine Country Fallhttp://www.tanyaspantry.com/home/2009/10/27/wine-country-fall.htmlTanya's Pantry2009-10-27T20:13:54Z2009-10-27T20:13:54Z

I am always amazed at the variety of colors that we see in the wine country in the fall. This weekend we took a quick trip out to the valley to pick up my wine club shipment at Torii Mor. I've been a member here for years - since 2000. I really like their house style. It's refined, elegant and old-world style.

While there, we enjoyed a grand tasting of all of their wonderful pinot noirs, a chardonnay that will turn all "oh, I really don't like chardonnay" people around, and a new pinot blanc. Tip: when you're a wine club member, you get to bring four friends for free tasting, usually $10!

We also stopped at one of my favorite places in McMinnville - Walnut City Wineworks. This cooperative effort brings together smaller winemakers to share the crush facility and vineyard management. What that means for us is you get to taste small production wines which are often unique blends from a variety of producers. All in one lovely little place in town, and all for just $5. One of the best deals in the valley, I think. Lucky us, they'd just had a tasting of new releases the day before, so we got a special tasting sneak preview of some new wines!

The stellar view from Winderlea

On our way home, a new place caught our eyes. Opened in 2008, Winderlea is a striking facility with killer views. Their wines, feminine and elegant were lovely, and I was impressed by their unique visual identity. We'll return here again, to be sure.

Get thee out to the valley soon to take in the fall colors, celebrate the end of harvest and taste some new releases!

]]>Truffle Tasting Festhttp://www.tanyaspantry.com/home/2009/10/19/truffle-tasting-fest.htmlTanya's Pantry2009-10-19T23:34:00Z2009-10-19T23:34:00ZWe managed to bring back a few white truffles from Croatia, so with the Oregon white truffles from the farmers market it was time to do a little comparison. So we invited a few friends over and made (all with shaved truffles of course):

  • Fontina fondue - the hit of the evening. Light and lovely!
  • A classic Milanese risotto with wild mushrooms
  • Sirloin tips
  • Deviled eggs
  • Polenta bites

So, here's the deal. There is nothing like the aroma and magic of Istrian white truffles. They are intense, otherworldly and completely unique. The Oregon truffles had interesting flavor and texture, but just don't pack the same punch. That said, I'm excited to experiment because they were a fraction of the cost and of course we can buy them locally. Let's truffle!

]]>Vacation Inspirationhttp://www.tanyaspantry.com/home/2009/10/18/vacation-inspiration.htmlTanya's Pantry2009-10-18T23:28:00Z2009-10-18T23:28:00ZWow, three weeks in Italy and Istria eating some of the best food I've had in my life have been really inspiring. Check out my whole blog there on the right with all the details!

It's now time to get back into the swing of the Oregon harvest! Right away I got my fix at the farmers market. I bought Oregon white truffles to compare to those we brought back from Croatia. Pheasant pate from our friends at Chop. Loads of veggie staples (carrots, leeks, kale, salad greens, etc.) from Deep Roots. And Fontina from Willamette Valley Cheese. It's good to be home!

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