Let me tell you, I LOVE home-cooked breakfasts (the way they taste, how they make my home smell, how they make the day feel kind of special) with yummy pancakes at the top of the list. I was recently introduced to homemade buttermilk pancakes (which are divine!), but I have to admit it’s tough for me to eat a meal that uses all white flour. I can eat and eat without really getting full, and in my mind I guiltily ate dessert for breakfast.
Last night I was checking out Molly Wizenberg’s blog, Orangette, and was excited to see a post about Oatmeal Buttermilk pancakes. I can eat oats with zero guilt! (However, I couldn’t quite stomach the stick of butter the recipe calls for, so I reduced the butter by half and substituted applesauce for the other half.) You actually combine the oats and buttermilk and let them sit overnight and then add the additional wet and dry ingredients in the morning.
Oats have the most amazing flavor and texture, and this recipe makes a delicious pancake. I seriously wanted to start emailing my friends right away about this recipe but decided to post it here instead. I added frozen blueberries while they were cooking on the first side and served them with a few slices of sliced banana (my 4-year-old’s genius suggestion) and maple syrup.
Check out http://orangette.blogspot.com/2010/01/very-definition.html for the full story and recipe behind these pancakes.
Sorry for the lack of photo on this post – I couldn’t quite pirate Molly’s photo from her blog, and I perpetually forget to take pictures.
Posted by Amy 1/27/10
For my main course I had the Rachel sandwich. This is made with turkey breast, pastrami and a layer of coleslaw topped off with a thin slice of Swiss cheese and served on grilled marbled rye bread. It sounds really good and in general I am a huge fan of coleslaw so to try it on a sandwich I was excited, but I am sorry to say this was not a love connection for me. I’m not sure if it was just an odd combination for me or if swiss cheese and coleslaw really shouldn’t be served together, but it just didn’t work. However that said, I am anxious to get back and try something new. The service was great, the rest of the menu items looked wonderful, I just may have to play it a bit more safe with my menu choice next time. And trust me there will be a next time.
posted by Hillary 1/13/10
Last weekend my husband and I celebrated our seven-year anniversary at Oba! Restaurante in the Pearl of Portland, Oregon. The food is Latin American with extra flair, and the décor is modern and inviting. (I love a restaurant with good food and good ambience.) I am generally a very-decisive person, but the menu made it very difficult to choose between the offerings on the regular menu, specialty offerings from Cuba, and the Prix Fixe menu. I started with the Oba cesar salad (that’s really how they spell “cesar”), and the dressing had a great kick and flavor that livened up what otherwise would have been a pretty traditional Caesar salad. I chose the macadamia nut crusted pacific swordfish pan-seared with cilantro pesto for an entrée. The swordfish was cooked beautifully, but I was tempted to ask the server for a wedge of lime to squeeze over the fish for a little extra flavor. Luckily the cilantro pesto was there to help in the flavor department, but lime would have taken it to the next level for me. I finished with the Baked Argentine for dessert, which I enjoyed, but I found myself stealing bites from my husband’s chocolate flan, wishing it were all mine. Luckily, my husband is great at sharing. The portion sizes were perfect so I could finish a three-course meal still feeling pretty comfortable.
Oba is ranked fifth for fine dining in Portland by Urbanspoon.com. Learn more at Obarestaurant.com.
Posted by Amy 1/6/10
360 Pizzeria
I think the recipe comes from Molly Wizenberg. You can visit her blog (one of our favorites) at orangette.blogspot.com:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 1/2 TB water
2 1/2 TB sugar
3 oz finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
I don’t know what the specific directions are but here’s how I make it. I heat the milk, water, and sugar on the stovetop over medium-low to medium heat. I put a thermometer in the milk because the first time I made it, I let the milk get too hot and it boiled over, making a huge mess. I let the milk heat up slowly, stirring occasionally to help the sugar dissolve, until it hits about 150-160 Farenheit. Then I add the chocolate a little at a time, stirring well with each addition to ensure the chocolate melts and doesn’t sink to the bottom. I keep tasting the hot chocolate with each addition until I think it has the right amount of chocolate in it. After just the right amount of chocolate is added and dissolved, use an immersion blender (if you have one) to blend the hot cocoa until it’s nice and frothy (a minute or two). You can make this ahead of time, cool it down and park it in the fridge until you want to serve it. A pretty grody (nice high school adjective, huh 
) skin forms on top of the cooled milk, so to reheat it, I first pour it through a sieve into another pot before gently bringing it back to serving temp over medium low/medium heat. Once it’s nice and hot, turn off the burner and blend it for a couple minutes with an immersion blender. Serve with whipped cream and lots of Christmas cookies (see below).
| 1/4 | cup butter or margarine (not too bad for a whole batch of cookies) |
| 4 | oz unsweetened baking chocolate, cut into pieces (I wonder what it would ataste like of you used dark chocolate or even bittersweet) |
| 4 | eggs |
| 2 | cups all-purpose flour |
| 2 | cups granulated sugar |
| 1/2 | cup chopped almonds(I left these out to lower the fat content) |
| 2 | teaspoons baking powder |
| 1/2 | teaspoon salt |
| 1/2 | teaspoon ground ginger |
| 1/2 | teaspoon ground cinnamon |
| 1/4 | teaspoon ground cloves |
| 3/4 | cup powdered sugar |
| 1. | In 3-quart saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth. Remove from heat. Cool slightly, about 5 minutes. |
| 2. | With spoon, beat eggs into chocolate mixture until well blended. Beat in remaining ingredients except powdered sugar until well blended. Cover dough with plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 1 hour for easier handling. |
| 3. | Heat oven to 300°F. Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray. Place powdered sugar in small bowl. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in powdered sugar, coating heavily. Place balls 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. (to be honest, i thought they cooked better at 350) |
| 4. | Bake 13 to 18 minutes or until set. Immediately remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. |
Pearl Bakery
Amy and I have a few late nights every now and then. A friend of ours offered to cater one of our late night meetings with desserts from Pearl Bakery. Pearl is located in Portland’s Pearl District, one block from Powell’s City of Books. She brought us mini chocolate bouchons and vanilla eclairs. I am not much of a “foodie”, but the cream in the vanilla eclairs is so AMAZING! Check out http://www.pearlbakery.com
St. Honore Bakery
Amy and I and a few friends went to St. Honore Bakery for Amy’s birthday lunch. St. Honoré Boulangerie is a neighborhood bakery and café located in Northwest Portland, with another location in Lake Oswego. We had lunch and an assortment of desserts. I give it a 4 out of 4 stars. The food was fresh, homemade (so to speak), and there was a wide variety. The atmosphere was warm and cozy yet accommodating for our group of 6. I would love to go back and try more of the breads. I had the tomato with Italian sausage soup with an onion roll. I asked one of the employees to recommend bread that would go well with the soup. He did just that. Visit http://www.sainthonorebakery.com to learn more.
These are just 3 of the 7 desserts we sampled:
Strawberry Mille Feuilles
Caramelized puff pastry filled with mousseline cream and fresh strawberries.
Gâteau au Chocolat
Rich and dense flourless chocolate cake made with extra dark chocolate.
Tarte au Citron
A smooth and rich lemon custard on a bed of almond cream in a paté sablé shell.
Fenouil
I (Amy) ate at Fenouil in the Pearl of Portland, Oregon several weeks ago with my husband and some of his clients, and I was completely blown away. If I’d been invisible, I would have closed my eyes to savor every bite. I ordered French onion soup to start, pan-fried halibut as an entree, and an apple/caramel pastry for dessert. Every bite was amazing, and I can’t wait to go back.
Delancey
Amy and I, along with 5 other friends, drove 164 miles to Seattle to go the the restaurant DELANCEY. We chose this place because we read Molly Wizenberg’s book “A Homemade Life” . Delancey is the wood-fire pizza project of Brandon Pettit and Molly Wizenberg. It was worth every mile.
Amy and I are on the left. Amy is in front and I am next to her holding the book. If you click on the “What We’re reading” tab, you can read more about Molly’s book.
