Sel Gris

This post was written in November 2007 but never published. Why, I don't know.

As the new home of Portland favorite Chef Daniel Mondok - formerly of Carlyle and Olea, Sel Gris has to live up to some lofty expectations.

Ris de Veau: crisp sweetbreads, apple butter,“bacon and eggs”11. Melty-crisp sweetbreads were delicious. The "exploding egg pancake" that came with it impressed me with presentation, but I didn't care for the flavor. Too sweet. Brian scarfed it up happily.

Calamari “fritto misto”: Oregon rock shrimp, preserved lemon, green beans,Italian parsley, halibut gujonette, and walnut bagna cauda 10. I loved this - big chunks of halibut and shrimp lightly fried till crisp mixed with fried lemon and green beans sprinked with parsley. And the walnut bagna cauda is a warm dip of garlic, anchovies, walnut oil and cream. Luckily Brian was busy with the sweetbreads and let me have most of it. Hee hee.

Cauliflower Panna Cotta. Our server Tim brought this out gratis. Yes, it's Tim, the same server from Carlyle. He actually remembered us from our Valentine's Day dinner. That's a good server. Anyway, I loved this! It was cold, creamy and rich, tasting of cauliflower and cheese.

Duck Confit with baby chicories, Roquefort, sherry-shallot vinaigrette 12. Wow, great salad. I love duck, especially confited. This was the perfect venue for it - spicy chicory, intense Roquefort and the acidic dressing.

Endive salad with toasted walnuts, arugula, red wine spiced poached pears, Muscatel vinegar, under a "Humboldt Fog"9. What does under a Humboldt Fog mean? Something about cheese? It was good, too.

I wanted to order the salmon (pan roasted, crevette risotto, foie gras melted leeks, squid and crab "salad", butter poached prawn, coral oil), but I found I wasn't really hungry anymore. God, ya think? Brian went and ordered what would have been my second choice.

Diver Scallops: seared and bacon wrapped, polenta, foie gras béarnaise, figs and fennel 24. Decadence on a plate. The scallops were perfectly rare in the center, as expected, and the polenta and béarnaise gave each scallop bite a blanket of richness.

Daniel Mondok has hit his stride with Sel Gris. We are looking forward to seeing what other amazing creations come out of his kitchen.

Sel Gris
1852 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 517-7770
Dinner Monday - Saturday, 5:30 PM to close

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Note: Sel Gris has recently been under attack by foie gras protestors. Please go as often as you can this month to support them. I will. (If you are anti-foie, don't bother spamming the comments; I won't publish your mis-directed diatribe.)

Chocolate Mousse Tart (& more Pâte Sablée)

This is my new favorite dessert to bring. Bring where? Anywhere! Potlucks, picnics, dinner at dad's, baby showers, and the like.

There's two sticks of butter in the crust. And one whole pint of heavy cream in the tart. So don't make this to keep at home and risk eating all the leftovers for breakfast. You'll thank me for this later.

I made this with Hershey's Special Dark chocolate. I usually go for the Ghirardelli or ScharffenBerger for fancy desserts, but the Hershey's was on sale and I wanted to try it out. I was a little iffy when I tasted the chocolate on its own, as it was too grainy and had that epitomous Hershey's flavor. But, once it was mixed with an ungodly amount of whipped cream and chilled into the sweet, cookie crust, the flavor was exceptional.

The recipe I based this on didn't really work out, so I had to improvise. At first, I made it worse, but it turned out great anyway. The recipe calls for chocolate and half the cream to be heated together in the microwave until the chocolate melted, then cooled to room temperature. Meanwhile, I whipped the remaining cream until stiff peaks formed.



Then, I was to fold the whipped cream into the melted chocolate/cream mixture. Even at room temp, the chocolate/cream mixture was too liquidy to fold the whipped cream into.



So I mixed it the best I could, then thought I could throw the whole mix back into the mixer to re-whip the cream. No, not happening. And then the whole mix was even more liquidy. I poured it into the crust anyway and threw the whole lot into the freezer. And lo and behold! It firmed right up and even had that velvety mousse-like texture I was going for. Whoo hoo!

please ignore my finger marks

The second time I made it, I melted the chocolate and cream using the double-boiler method instead of the microwave, let it cool, then folded the whipped cream in. Worked much better and was definitely a mousse and not a liquid.

double-boiler method is better

A note on chocolate mousse: Julia Child seems to have the go-to recipe, according to my limited on-line research. However, I was making the first tart for a very pregnant friend of mine and Julia's recipe (and most out there) feature raw eggs in the dessert. And raw eggs & pregnant women do not mix. So that is why I chose this simple recipe.

Also, I used the Pâte Sablée crust for this again and it was so good. So, so good. So good that I am going to include that recipe again since I have more pictures of it.

Pâte Sablée from Martha Stewart

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

With a standing mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low. Add flour and salt, and beat until just combined and crumbly (do not overmix).


Shape dough into a 9-inch round disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes (or up to 2 days), or freeze for up to 1 month.


satiny dough

For this recipe, you'll need to fully bake the crust before filling it. I bake it at 400* for about 25 minutes, then check for doneness. Doneness can be however dark you would like your crust to be. The first time I made this, it was pretty dark.


The crust browned nicely in the oven. This was the crust that was too crumbly for me to roll out; I picked up pieces of sandy dough and patted them into place in the tart pan.


You can see the rest of the dough on my cutting board in the top right of the photo. It was very crumbly.

The next time I made this, I chilled it just for a couple of hours instead of overnight. The crust rolled out nicely and baked up a little lighter.


This dough was still very soft. I couldn't pick it up all at once to place in the pie pan.


I used a bench scraper to lift pieces of the dough into the pie plate, then patched them together with my fingertips.


This crust was a little flakier.

Also, after I get the dough into the tart pan but before I bake it, I place it in the freezer for about 15 minutes. This helps firm it up a bit and prevents it from shrinking in the oven.

Now that you know how to make a perfect pâte sablée tart crust, let's move on to the chocolate mousse part.

Chocolate Mousse Tart adapted from Very Best Baking

1 recipe pâte sablée tart crust, baked and cooled
8 oz. dark chocolate, 62% cacao, chopped finely
2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
2 T confectioner's sugar

To begin, set a saucepan with 2 inches of water over medium heat until it simmers. Reduce the heat to low. Place a stainless steel or glass bowl over the saucepan, making sure it doesn't touch the water.

Add chocolate and 1 cup of heavy cream to the bowl. Heat slowly, whisking as you go, until all the chocolate is melted and combined well with the cream.


beginning stages of chocolate melting into cream

When chocolate is thoroughly melted, remove from heat and set aside to cool. You want it to cool to room temperature, but still be melted.

Meanwhile, add the remaining cream and the confectioner's sugar to the bowl of a standing mixer. Whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks.



Add the whipped cream to the cooled chocolate mixture. Carefully, gently, fold the whipped cream into the chocolate.


It should look like this.

Scrape chocolate mousse into the prepared tart crust.



Place tart in the refrigerator for 4 hours or until firm.



Slice and serve. I serve this plain, but it would pair well with a fruit sauce or liqueur-flavored whipped cream.

A Dad Dinner

Last week Brian and I gave my dad his birthday present. His birthday is in April, but for the second year our gift was a dinner. Dad gets to invite some friends over for a fabulous dinner party, and we cook. Dad's no slouch in the kitchen, so we really have to bring it for these dinners.

The menu this year was as follows:

Appetizers:
Spinach Dip with crispy baguette
Assorted Olives

First Course:
Creamy Asparagus Soup with Crab Cakes

Second Course:
Romaine Salad with goat cheese, walnuts, grapefruit & orange supremes, and Lemon-Tarragon Vinaigrette

Third Course:
Seared Sonomoa Foie Gras with challah toast and honeyed walnuts

Fourth Course:
Lemon Sorbetto

Fifth Course:
Smoked Pork Loin with bacon-wrapped scallops and lentils

Sixth Course:
Yin-Yang Dessert - cheesecake and chocolate mousse tart


I didn't take pics of all the courses, but I wanted to share some.

Here's Brian chopping garlic and/or shallots...and the kitchen behind him.

Creamy Asparagus Soup, plated and ready to be served.

Crab Cakes hand-formed by moi - Brian likes them in the cylinder shape. Sear them in a pan and finish in the oven.

The huge scallops. Wrapped in bacon, they resemble calf nuts.

This is one lobe of foie gras. We had 2 lobes, but only used one. Each person received a generous portion.

The first one is my little plate of foie that I threw together for myself. It isn't pretty. The other one is a plate that Brian made up for us last month and was more like what we served to the guests.

The real star of the evening: Dad's smoked pork loin. Look at that smoke ring!

Luckily, Brian and I got to take a smidge home with us. It was probably the best pork I've had, in any form. The best part was the crispy, crackly outside mingling with the fat pockets inside. Made for some excellent pig sandwiches the next day.

Last, but not least, my dessert duo. I made a cheesecake, slightly lemon flavored. And my new favorite dessert: chocolate mousse tart. I thought we should just give everyone a taste of each. Then we took the rest home...bwuuuhhahahaha.

Happy Blog-iversary!

3 years of LadyConcierge! I have to give mad props to everyone at http://www.portlandfood.org/ for their support and Michelle at Je Mange la Ville for being my inspiration.

And now, strawberry shortcake! Seems like it's a popular topic right now. We're right in the middle of California strawberry season and waiting eagerly for the Oregon berries to arrive. Our strawberry plants are taking over the side yard, and boy are we glad!

This recipe comes from the guys at The Bitten Word, who try out the best recipes from the food magazines each month. This one comes from Everyday Food, May 2009 issue. The original recipe was for rhubarb instead of strawberries.

What I like about this recipe is the shortcake is the biscuit-scone type and not the foamy cake type. Brian disagrees, but will suffer through it somehow. He tried to get me to buy some angel food cake at the grocery store yesterday, but I would have none of it. I love the flaky texture of these shortcakes. I halved the recipe since it was just us two, and I sprinkled turbinado sugar over the tops.

Macerating strawberries in balsamic is one of my favorite preparations for the sweet little gems. Alas, our balsamic was gone! So I used a splash of cherry brandy instead. Not the same flavor, but a nummy one just the same. Next time I will make sure to have balsamic on hand.

Balsamic Brown Sugar Strawberries
The Bitten Word

1 pint strawberries
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon dark or light brown sugar, depending on your preference

Cap and quarter strawberries and place in a large bowl. Mix with balsamic and sugar. Cover and refrigerate, two hours to overnight. If the strawberries are not sweet enough for your tastes, add more brown sugar.


Shortcakes
Everyday Food (May 2009)

Prep: 25 minutes
Total: 55 minutes, plus cooling
Ingredients

Serves 8

* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for work surface
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
* 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
* 1 cup whole milk
* 1 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a food processor, combine flour, butter, baking powder, salt, and 1/3 cup sugar and process until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk and pulse just until moistened, 4 to 5 times.

2. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. With floured hands, gently pat into a 4-by-8-inch rectangle. Cut dough into 8 squares and transfer to a baking sheet; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake until golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Let biscuits cool on baking sheet.

3. In a large bowl, beat cream until soft peaks form. Add 2 tablespoons sugar and beat until soft peaks return. To serve, split biscuits with a serrated knife; sandwich with rhubarb compote (or strawberries!) and whipped cream.

Toro Bravo

It is seriously sad that we don't head here more often, when it is a mere 6 blocks from home. And we've only been once, I think. We walked down last night just after 5 and snagged seats at the counter.

We started with drinks - Borio (?) for him (a tequila cocktail) and a Sage Seville for me (like a gin mojito with sage instead of mint). Tasty and balanced for both.

We started with the Singing Pig salad which featured grilled asparagus, chopped egg and hazelnuts, and the sherry chicken liver mousse. Both were big portions for the price. We were expecting maybe a votive of chicken liver mousse, but it was a very generous cup. Served with quartered ciabatta bread slices and crispy baguette. The salad was served in a mixing bowl with salad tongs. I tossed it around a little and served us up a big scoop each and still had enough left in the bowl for seconds. I love egg in salad so this was a winner for me. It was very lightly dressed in a mild vinaigrette.

Next we ordered the oxtail croquettes and drunken pork with fresh shell bean stew. I thought the oxtail croquettes were a ripoff for $14. Three, two-inch croquettes? Oxtails are from the tail of a cow, right? They were rich and crispy, though, with a great spicy aioli. I'm glad we tried them, and because the first two dishes' portion size was so generous, this one being skimpy didn't really matter. Actually, maybe that was why we expected a little more on that plate, because of the size of the first two. The drunken pork came out next. Tasted like a smoked pork chop chunked up with great northern beans and a tomato-pepper stew.

We passed on dessert and Brian had one more drink instead. 3 drinks + 4 dishes = $67 before tip. Not bad considering we can spend $30 for breakfast in the area pretty easily. I think we'll probably pop in more often now.


Toro Bravo
120-A N.E. Russell Street
Portland, OR 97212
503.281.4464
torobravopdx.com

Whole Lemon Tart and Pâte Sablée

aka Tarte au Citron for you francophiles. I got this idea from the fabulous Deb at Smitten Kitchen. If you haven't met Deb yet and have no idea what Smitten Kitchen is, go there now and visit. I think I have bookmarked more recipes from Deb than from any other site.

I first made this tart last year. At the time, I was using a tart crust recipe from my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. It worked ok but was kind of blah. Then I tried the pâte sucrée (from Martha, of course), which is a richer dough made with egg yolks and a little sugar. This was better, but still not quite what I wanted.

I was interested in trying a pâte sablée (a sweet shortbread-like crust) with this lemon tart to counter the bitterness from the lemon peel. Most of the recipes call for ground almonds, which gives the crust that delicate, sandy texture. I don't like purchasing ingredients for one dish (or rather, a piece of one dish) so I put off trying it until last weekend. Mother's Day was coming up, and I was bringing dessert over to my Dad's for our family celebration. I was once again checking out recipes for pâte sablée online when I came upon Martha's recipe, which doesn't use any ground almonds! Why I hadn't seen this before is a mystery to me. Her recipe uses butter, confectioner's sugar, flour and salt. Perfect.

The best part about the pâte sablée recipe is that it comes together in the mixer. No cutting the cold butter into the flour necessary. That's always the hardest part for me. Instead, you use softened butter (2 sticks!) and cream it with the sugar, then add the flour and salt. Easy!

After chilling, the dough is still very soft, so I patted the dough into the tart pan instead of trying to roll it out. The recipe says it makes a 9-inch tart shell, but I had more dough than I needed. Of course if you like an extra thick crust, go for it! **On second thought, I think my tart pan is only 8 inches, so that may have been the issue.

In making tarts, I find it best to pre-bake the crust almost all the way before adding the filling. That way the crust is nice and brown and not gummy on the bottom. This is called blind baking. I learned a little trick from Deb: freeze the crust before baking it. That way the crust doesn't shrink down the sides of your tart pan. You can also line it with parchment and fill with dried beans or rice or pie weights, but I've found freezing works just as well, if not better. Then pop it into a 400° oven for 15-20 minutes. When it is a light golden brown, remove from oven and let cool all the way before adding the filling.

This tart recipe uses a whole lemon, as you may have guessed from the title. Except for any pesky seeds that might be hanging out. Just cut the lemon into small pieces and add it to the blender with the sugar and blend until smooth. Whisk in a whole egg, an egg yolk, corn starch and melted butter. This time I just blended everything in the blender and it worked fine. The color was a little cloudier but it still tasted great. The filling is intensly lemon with a good mix of tart, bitter and sweet. I've called it the grown-ups' lemon tart. With a pretty dusting of powdered sugar on top, it is a sure winner for brunch, picnic or family dinner.

Pâte Sablée from Martha Stewart

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

With a standing mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low. Add flour and salt, and beat until just combined and crumbly (do not overmix). Shape dough into a 9-inch round disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes (or up to 2 days), or freeze for up to 1 month.


Whole Lemon Tart from Smitten Kitchen

1 partially baked 9-inch (24-cm) sweet tart shell
1 average-sized lemon (about 4 1/2 ounces; 130 grams), rinsed and dried
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tablespoons (12 grams) cornstarch
1 stick (4 ounces; 115 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven 325°F (165°C). Line a trimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and put the tart shell on the sheet.

Slice the lemon into thin wedges, remove the seeds, and toss the lemon and sugar into the container of a blender or food processor. Blend or process, scraping down the sides of the container as needed, until the lemon is thoroughly pureed and blended with the sugar, 1 to 2 minutes.

Turn the mixture into a bowl and, using a whisk, gently stir in the whole egg and the yolk, followed by the cornstarch and melted butter.

Pour the filling into the crust but be sure to leave 1/4 inch between the top of your filling and the top edge of your crust.

Slide the baking sheet into the oven and bake the tart for 20 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 350°F (180°C) and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling, lightly browned and set.  Don't overbake - tart will continue to set as it cools.

Transfer the tart, still on the baking sheet, to a cooling rack and allow it to cool for at least 20 minutes before removing it from the pan. The tart is ready to be served when it reaches room temperature.

*this photo and the top one feature a tart made with pâte sucrée

H50

Brian and I had dinner here about a month ago in the new Hotel Fifty. They've done a great job with renovating the space that used to be the Sheraton. There's not many restaurants where you can stare at the river whilst you dine, and H50 happily fills this gap. Here's a rundown of what we ordered.

1. Bread Service - comes with romesco and whipped butter. That's Brian's Diablo cocktail - something with vodka and chiles and orange.


2. Amuse - Dungeness Crab with wasabi foam, soy pearls over orange puree. Delish.



3. Peruvian Crab Napoleon - purple potato, avocado, red onion marmalade. Too sweet. We originally wanted the Dungeness Crab Fritters, but they were out.



4. The Caesar - baby romaine, garlic, white anchovy, crispy bread. Loved the presentation. Dressing was just to my taste - balanced garlic, lemon & anchovy. There was a whole anchovy hidden under the lettuce.


5. My entree - Seared Salmon, braised pork belly, leek and marsala cous cous, cherry gastrique. Salmon was flaky and moist but was overshone by the perfect pork belly. It was like pork belly lasagna with alternating layers of meaty and fatty. The sugar snap peas underneath gave a fresh, crisp counterpoint. The froth on the salmon was almond-flavored, which I didn't really notice. Also dug the cous cous, which had cherries mixed up in there.



6. Brian got the NY Strip, med rare, asparagus, oven roasted roma tomatoes, mornay sauce. The only problem with this was Brian could make it better at home himself. The steak didn't have enough blood. It was par-cooked and then finished when we ordered it. B was of the opinion they cooked it too long the first time 'round. He really liked the oven roasted tomatoes with the asparagus, which, again, is something that I make at home.



7. Lemon Mascarpone Tart - the crust was fantastic, much flakier that I have been able to achieve at home. Didn't really need the mascarpone, but the lemon kicked ass.



8. Sen Bao Profiteroles - there were 3 - one each filled with chocolate, peanut butter and salt caramel. I liked the caramel one the best, while B went for the peanut butter.



Also, we were served sesame brittle mignardises with the check. The only flaw with our evening was the drinks. Pass on the cocktails. Each one was unbalanced, either too sweet or too acidic. I would stick with wine next time.

Service was peachy, nothing to complain about. I also want to mention portion sizes as they were perfect. We ate every bite of every plate and left perfectly satisfied, not stuffed and definitely not hungry.

I was very pleasantly surprised with H5O and will return.

H50 (inside Hotel Fifty)
50 SW Morrison
Portland, OR 97204
503-221-0711

Veggie Lasagna!

Vegetable Lasagna is one of my favorite dishes. I first had it at a Raleigh Hills restaurant called Ernesto's, a homey red-sauce Italian kind of place. It contained mushrooms, zucchini and spinach and was smothered with hot, melty cheese. I used that as my model when first creating my own veggie lasagna.

I've been eating fewer carbs, so for this batch, I used horizontally-cut zucchini strips in place of the noodles on my half. Brian doesn't believe in noodle-less lasagna, so I used the no-boil noodles on his part. Aren't I nice?

Sauce - I make my own marinara sauce. Saute onions in olive oil and butter, add red pepper flakes, canned tomatoes (San Marzano if possible), thyme, oregano, basil, salt and pepper and let simmer on lowest setting for a few hours. Sometimes I stir in some tomato paste if I want it a little thicker for lasagna. This batch I stirred in some fresh basil as well, but dried is just as good. I often make the sauce the day before and let it sit overnight. Cold sauce is easier to work with, plus the flavor has time to develop.



Veggies - I use frozen spinach, zucchini and mushrooms. I pre-cook the mushrooms so they don't leak water throughout my lasagna. Zucchini gets cut the long way for this batch. The spinach I thaw and drain and squeeze as much water out of it as I can. This takes many, many tree-killing paper towels.

Cheese - Ricotta and parmesan play a key role here. I mix the ricotta with 2 eggs and about 4 cups of shredded parmesan cheese. Next time I might mix the spinach in there, too and see how that turns out. Mozzarella cheese is shredded and goes mostly on top. Sometimes I might throw a little cheddar in there for kicks. I think fontina would be good, too, for its exceptional melting quality.

Layering - I never get as many layers as I should, probably because I don't have a deep enough pan. Three layers are just about average for me. First, spread a cupful of sauce on the bottom of the pan.


Add noodles or zucchini strips, covering the whole bottom.

Then, spread ricotta mixture thinly over the noodles/zucchini. Sprinkle with mushrooms, spinach and a little mozzarella cheese.

Repeat as your pan allows. For the top layer, I just use the ricotta mixture, sauce and cover it with cheese. Use your hands to smoosh it down a little.


Cover with foil and bake about an hour and a half. Check it to see if the middle is completely cooked. Sometimes I have to throw it back in for another 1/2 hour. When it's done, remove the foil and bake about 10 minutes more to get the cheese brown and melty.

Let cool and eat!

I often make this on Sunday afternoons as it makes great work lunches for the week. We never get sick of lasagna!