What we’re loving:
Blackcurrant Dijon mustard
French meals firm Edmond Fallot’s stone-ground mustards are all the time swoon-worthy, and we have fallen exhausting for the blackcurrant-flavored Dijon, which has only a contact of white wine to bridge the pure tang of mustard seeds with fruity sweetness. We’re utilizing it as an emulsifying agent in home made spring salad dressings made with pear vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil, but it surely additionally could be a great addition to a charcuterie tray or slathered on roast pork.
$4.99 instructed retail, accessible at specialty grocers, together with Foster & Dobbs (2518 N.E. fifteenth Ave.) and La Bottega (1905 Primary St., Vancouver).
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Say olé with recent tortillas for Cinco de Mayo
In case your Cinco de Mayo celebration plans embrace meals, you owe it to your self to make your dishes utilizing recent tortillas. They’re made recent day by day at lots of the Mexican groceries you may discover in Hillsboro and Gresham. In Portland, there are two nice sources on Hawthorne Boulevard. The Mexican restaurant La Palapa (1864 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd.; 503-432-8014) sells huge 12-inch flour tortillas that run $4.99 for a bag of 10, and are good for making overstuffed burritos. For gentle tacos, head to Fred Meyer (3805 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd.; 503-872-3300), the place the bakery makes recent 8-inch flour and whole-wheat tortillas each day which might be nice for gentle tacos. (Another Fred Meyer areas could promote them, even when they do not truly make them.) There is a dozen in every $1.99 bag, and the flavour’s so recent they will not final lengthy.
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Fiesta with a twist
A well-made margarita is all the time welcome — particularly on Could 5. However once in a while we prefer to shake issues up a bit, as with this Grapefruit Herb Margarita. We predict it offers the outdated basic a classy contact and turns it right into a terrific companion to the home made salsas we simply know you are going to make from the recipes on this week’s FOODday.
Grapefruit Herb Margarita
1 serving
Mix in a saucepan: 2 cups sugar with 1 cup water. Cook dinner over low warmth, stirring often, till sugar is dissolved. Simmer, coated, for five minutes. Take away the new syrup from the warmth and add: 1 bunch mint or 3/4 cup mint leaves. Cowl and let stand 10 to twenty minutes. Pressure and let cool. Chill till wanted. To make one serving: shake nicely with ice 3 ounces grapefruit juice, 1 1/2 ounces tequila, 1 ounce recent lime juice and 1/2 ounce of the chilled syrup. Frost the rim of a margarita glass, utilizing lime juice and coarse salt. Fill with ice and pour the drink over the ice. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.
— From “Pleasure of Cooking” by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker and Ethan Becker
What’s in retailer
Ajwain seeds? Cascabel peppers? Sumac? In the event you like to cook dinner, you already know the frustration of not having the ability to discover the elements you need. And in relation to spices, Penzeys is nice useful resource. However for years, the one retailer was in Clackamas (11322 S.E. 82nd Ave.). Then final 12 months, the nationwide chain opened a retailer within the Pearl (120 N.W. tenth Ave.), and only in the near past, an outlet in Beaverton City Sq., subsequent door to Dealer Joe’s and throughout the parking zone from Beaverton Fred Meyer. Retailer hours are 10 a.m. to six p.m. Monday by means of Saturday, and 11 a.m. to five p.m. on Sunday.
11787 S.W. Beaverton Hillsdale Freeway; 503-643-7430;
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Bottle bling
Glamour is a little bit exhausting to return by for busy mothers. Which is why we expect Mom’s Day dinner is the proper event to place your greatest foot ahead and serve Mother’s wine out of this leopard-pattern pump with fake diamond studs. Heck, we’re tempted to purchase two and put on them in town.
$29.95;
; 1-800-356-8466.
Kitchen tip
One job that appears to strike worry in a baker’s coronary heart is melting chocolate and baking chips. In the event you’re utilizing the microwave, one downside could possibly be scorching. Something made with sugar burns simply, and since morsels are made with stabilizers and since microwaves warmth from the middle out, morsels maintain their form till they’re stirred. Since they do not look melted, we preserve zapping them within the microwave or elevating the warmth on the range.
To soften morsels within the microwave, use 50 % energy for 30 seconds at a time, stirring nicely every time. Repeat till the morsels are principally melted however a couple of chips stay. Take away from the microwave, let stand a few minute and stir once more to utterly soften.
On the range, chocolate is especially delicate to small quantities of water, which causes it to clump or seize. If there’s any house at throughout the highest part of your home made double boiler, it’ll enable tiny droplets of moisture from escaping steam to hit the chocolate. You may repair it by including a little bit fats, reminiscent of a couple of drops of vegetable oil or a few half teaspoon of shortening, to clean it again out.
However in case you have a small heavy pot (Le Creuset works nice) you may skip the double boiler and soften the chips straight on the burner. Be affected person and use low to medium-low warmth, stirring steadily.
— McClatchy-Tribune
