Things I am in Love with Right Now

Fried Capers

Wyatt and I had a date a while back at the Barking Frog restaurant. The meal was somewhat memorable, a pork belly appetizer, short rib entree, something chocolate for dessert. The thing I remember most was the bread served with this sun dried tomato jam and fried capers.

I had never thought to fry capers, but have a large Costco jar in my fridge that I only used to sprinkle on fish. I am slightly obsessed with frying capers whenever I want a salty fix now. The jar is nearly empty, yikes! I also have a Costco jar of sun dried tomatoes that I whip into a quick jam. The capers get crispy and hollow when you pan fry them for about 10 minutes in a little olive oil and intensify in saltiness. Slice up a baguette, spread some goat cheese or soft cheese on it and top with jam and capers, delicious!

Poached Eggs

A perfectly poached egg on top of crispy fried seasoned potatoes equals perfection. This has become a regular lunch for me because its ridiculously easy to make and insanely yummy. The key to the poached egg is cook it 3 minutes. This ensures a creamy yoke that will break and flow over the crispy potatoes. The key to getting crispy potatoes is to slice them thinly and make sure the pan and oil are hot before adding the slices. Also do not overcrowd the pan and do them in batches if necessary. This is a fundamental for any type of pan frying to achieve browning and crispiness.

Cookbooks

I get on a kick and check out a ton of certain genre of books from the library. This week is cookbooks. I follow food writer Michael Ruhlman's blog who is great for fundamentals. His book Ratio lays out basic formulas for all cooking like doughs, sauces, charcuterie, etc. I like to experiment, so having the ratios in my head makes sure things don't go way wrong.
I love Tony Bourdain and recently watch a clip of him dining at the French Laundry. This inspired me to check out the cookbook. Frankly, I will try only a few of these recipes because truffles and caviar are not in my budget. Thomas Keller is a genius and I learned a lot about basic cooking from reading through it. He has a very interesting and easy way to make powder out of tons of ingredients I am eager to try. I am excited to check out the El Bulli cookbook I have on hold.

Bulk Spice

A frugal and flavorful tip is to buy your spices from the bulk section found in many stores organic section. Prepacked spices are severely overpriced. Most of the bulk spices are organic to boot! Since you can buy as little as you need, your spices will always be fresh too. You can fill a spice a 3 oz spice jar for almost any spice for pennies to 50 cents. This November Fred Meyer has all bulk spices on sale for 30% off, so stock up! I also buy bulk tea in this section, the quality is amazing and incredibly affordable.


Stevia

When my dear friend Tilly was in town for a visit, we had a lovely tea tasting at an Asian shop near Pike's Market. I tried a lavender and stevia blend that was divine. I couldn't believe the sweet flavor that came from just a few of these leaves. I typically drink my coffee and tea black, but adding a few of these leaves to tea balances the bitterness in the tea leaves. I also have been experimenting by adding lavender, rose, and other dried flowers to make my own tea blends. Stevia is getting more buzz as a natural sweetener; I highly recommend trying it.