A Jersey Girl in Portland

Welcome to my Blog

Hello! Jersey Girl in Portland is me, Nancy Schaadt. Born in New Jersey, lived all over, found my heart’s home in Portland Oregon in 2008.

I’m a chef, freelance writer, and cannabis culture fan.  I’m the store demo chef at a local (to Portland) fancy grocery store. I cook, present, and talk about food for a living…. Is that amazing or what?

I’ve pinned this to the top of my blog because I need to warn anyone who wants to read my advertisement free scribbles, or search for any of the hundreds of bonafide recipes on this blog, that the Typepad search function is total crap.

Please use the search engine the nice people at Google have created.  Enter “Jersey Girl in Portland” and whatever recipe or article you desire like tomato jam or dope soap or pie or beans or sourdough or hashtag-whatever. The results are accurate and much better than the Typepad search function.

Thanks!

Really good chocolate chip cookies

I thought I had posted this months ago. I still love these cookies, I just haven’t made them in ages. Enjoy. 

 

I was looking through some old recipes and realized that a cook’s recipe box — my recipe box —  is a time capsule of my life. Most recipes came from a newspaper. Some are lovingly taped to a recipe card. A bunch were printed on a dot-matrix printer (1990s tech—it printed in color), a scant few of them come from the back of the package. 

This is one of the latter. From the back of the Bob’s Red Mill AP flour bag, I give you

“OUR FAVORITE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES”

16 T (227g) unsalted butter 

1 c (198g) granulated sugar

1 c (213g) brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 t vanilla extract

2½ c (248g) rolled oats, quick-cooking or old-fashioned

2 c (240g) King Arthur Unbleached AP Flour

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

¾ t salt

2% c (454g) chocolate chips

½ to 1 c (85g to 170g) chopped nuts, optional (They say optional, I say necessary.)

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two or more baking sheets.

2. Beat together the butter and sugars, then beat in the eggs and vanilla.

B. Grind the oats in a blender or food processor until they've turned to a coarse powder; add to the sugar mixture along with the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, chips, and nuts. Mix just until thoroughly combined.

4. Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet. Leave about 1 ½" between each ball of dough; the cookies will spread.

5. Bake the cookies for 14 to 15 minutes, or until they're very lightly browned. Remove them from the oven and cool right on the pans or cooling rack.

Yield: about 5 dozen medium-size cookies.

And wow. Just fucking wow. They are perfect.

 

Radicchio Salad with Beans, Feta, Frisée, and Pistachios

What a crazy, busy few months it’s been. I’m loving my new position at a fancy grocery store in SW Portland. I’m a demo cook so I’m cooking almost every day.  All the recipes are good.  A few have been great. This is one of the great ones.

Radicchio salad with Beans, Feta, Frisée and Pistachios

Juice of one lemon

1/2 cup infused olive oil of your choice (or make your own*)

2 15 oz cans of white beans, drained and rinsed

1-1/2 t kosher salt

1 head radicchio, thinly sliced (not mandolin-thinly sliced, knife cut will do)

1 head frisée, chopped (if needs be, substitute a roughly equal amount of any shredded green - kale, Brussels sprouts, etc)

1 small red onion (or half a big one), small dice

1/4 cup chopped fresh dill (reserve some for garnish)

1 c raisins or dried cranberries (Medjool dates, chopped, MIGHT also do. Try it and let me know.)

8 oz feta (I used French feta but any will do — if it’s very salty, use less salt on the beans)

1/3 c pistachios, roasted and salted or not. Rough chop 

 

Add the juice of one lemon and the infused oil* to the beans. Set aside.

Toss the greens -  radicchio, frisée, and most of the dill.

Gently mix the beans with a slotted spoon and spoon the beans over the greens. Set the bean juice & infused oil aside — you’ll need it in a minute.

Add the rest of the salad elements; raisins, onion, crumbled feta & pistachios, and moisten (if needed) with the bean juice/oil. Taste and salt as needed.

Toss gently and serve.

 

 

* To make infused oil, put a 1/2 cup of good olive oil in a small pan.  Add to it the zest of one lemon, 1/2 t red pepper flakes, 3 cloves smashed garlic and 10 peppercorns. Cook on LOW until the garlic starts to brown.  Remove from heat and let stand a few minutes. Strain while still warm and pour over the drained beans and lemon juice

 

Fun with Farro

I’ve been foolin’ around with farro, that amazing grain, which is, in truth, wheat. A whole grain, an ancient grain.  It’s nutty and complex, with a mouthfeel that is both yielding and firm.

And it’s super easy to cook.

Farro is an ancient grain, literally un-messed-with. To quote Wikipedia, “Farro is an ethnobotanical term for three species of hulled wheat: spelt (Triticum spelta), emmer (Triticum dicoccum), and einkorn(Triticum monococcum). Hulled wheat is wheat that cannot be threshed.^[1]”

Emmer is considered ‘true’ farro and is traced back to the Tuscany region of Italy. Frankly, I’m not sure which kind of farro I’m using.  It doesn’t look hulled so it’s not ‘pearled,’ a process that completely or partially strips the hull from the germ.

Anyway.  Recipes.  For work I made a farro, mushroom and tomato stew and a coconut & farro porridge.  Both were fantastic. Before I post this I’ll nail down a farro risotto which should be b0mb!

Farro, Mushroom & Tomato stew

1 c farro (uncooked)

1/2 c white wine

2 cups stock (I use veg stock, preferably home made)

1 c water*

2 cups sliced mushrooms 

1 shallot, small dice

1 can good tomato product, preferably San Marzano plum 

1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half

1 c kale, julienne

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 green onions, bias cut, separating green and white

3 T olive oil

2 T kosher salt or TT

Combine wine, stock and water. Bring to a boil. Add farro and 1 T olive oil. Simmer for 10 minutes then remove from heat and allow to stand for 10 minutes (or as long as it takes to prep the veggies).

In a soup pot, sauté shallot, then mushrooms. Add garlic and cook until fragrant.  

Drain farro retaining excess liquid.  Add farro, the white part of the scallions, and tomato products to sautéed veg. Add back enough of the farro water to make a stew-like consistency.  Simmer for 5 minutes, and adjust seasoning. 

Add kale and cook for 5 more minutes. Serve garnished with green onion (vegan prep) or Parmesan (vegetarian prep) or bacon (omnivore prep).

* I add water or the stew just tastes like boring veg stew. Let the farro shine!

Farro and Coconut porridge with stewed, dried fruit

1 can unsweetened coconut milk

1 cup farro 1/2 cup toasted, unsweetened coconut 

1 T maple syrup

1 t salt

4 c water

Bring all above to a boil and simmer on low, stirring intermittently, for 30 min - 1 hour. The grains should be chewy and soft. Alternately, the porridge can be brought to a boil, simmered for 10 minutes then chilled overnight.

That’s the basic porridge. The toppings make it magical. For work I combined 3/4 cup of dried cherries 🍒 (any dried fruit would work), 3 T maple syrup and a pinch of salt to a 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil and simmer just a few minutes.  Steep three Earl Gray tea bags in the stewed fruit for 3 minutes. 

Dried fruit stewed in wine would be delish too.

Spoon on stewed fruit and top with additional toasted coconut.

Farro Risotto (in a pressure cooker or instapot)

1 c Farro

1 lg shallot, small dice

2 c stock (I used parm broth** and beef stock)

1/2 cup white wine

1 T OO

1 T butter (unsalted)

To finish:

1/2 cup grated Parmesan 

Sauté shallot in OO and butter.  Add white wine to deglaze. Add stock (any combo of stocks or similar liquids). 12 min on high pressure. Quick release and reduce remaining liquid to desired consistency.

Now… this is just the suggestion of a farro base.  I sautéed mushrooms and asparagus and topped the risotto with them. But really anything would be good. Zucchini, or any squash, peas, kale, sautéed onion, caramellized onion, bacon, ground pork…I could go on for hours but you get the point. 

Also, wouldn’t waste high-end ingredients like lobster on this risotto. But… cleaning out the veg drawer? Freezer? Off-season CSA? Absolutely.

** Parm broth is this lovely concoction of Parmesan cheese rinds in a crock pot for eight hours with aromatics, covered with water plus one-inch yielding a Parmesan stock. For this recipe I mixed parm broth with beef remolage (weak stock).

 

Eat well & love BIG

xoxo nancy

 

 

 

 

 

A simple and delicious peanut butter cookie

I came across a stash of peanut butter at work and decided to make peanut butter cookies.  Mmm peanutty goodness.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that the top googled results were poorly  written, ad-streaked fluff with a paragraph on peanut butter cookies and pop-ups that stutter up and down the screen making it impossible to follow the recipe or even read it. 

So I got out my CIA (Culinary Institute of America) baking text book, only to find the following note on the sticky page: “not really peanutty…”

Well damn. Next stop? A 1960s edition of The Joy of Cooking.Where I found the following recipe:

Peanut Butter Cookies

(Preheat the oven to 375 degrees)

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c granulated sugar

1/2 c butter (room temp)

1 egg

1 c peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1-1/2 cups AP flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

With a hand or stand mixer beat together sugars and butter till fluffy. Beat in egg, peanut butter, salt, baking soda and vanilla.

Slowly add flour beating after each addition. 

Roll balls of dough about the size of a walnut and place on parchment paper on a baking sheet. 

Press down on the cookies with the tines of a fork in a cross-hatch.

Bake for 15 minutes, rotating the tray of cookies from the lower rack of the oven the to the middle rack after 8 minutes.

Yum! Not too sweet, not too crumbly. Perfect cookies.

For basic recipes, it never hurts to consult the classics.  Thank you Joy of Cooking.  You rock!

Eat well & Love Big

xoxo

Nancy 

A Stoner Crone

#AStonerCrone in #MahKitchen

 

 

 

 

Good bye old, hello new

Got a new iPad and keyboard to go weigh a new job — still in food — at a fancy grocery store as a “foodie” or demonstration chef. “Like the old people at Costco?” my husband asked.

Not quite, but close. I cook things that fit in a tiny ramekin using stuff from the store. Which is easy because it’s a really fancy store — curated one might say.

Anyway, this is also a farewell to my beloved dog Belmont. She was born (as near as we can figure) on Feb 14, 2007. She passed November 4, 2022. She had a good, long life.

I used to say that every day was a gift as she was a rescue found in South Dallas, near a chop shop.
She might have been headed to the dog fighting ring as a training dog, destined to live her short life being chewed on by bigger pit bulls.

I’ve finally stopped crying.

Love Big & Eat Well.

xoxo

Nancy

 

 

Garden + Magic Freezer = Lunch

I have a simple chest freezer.  29”x22”x32” probably 5 cu ft.  $300 on Amazon. Nothing special. But it’s magic to me because of the stuff I put it in and the stuff I put in it that I forget about! Stoner memory & foodie palate = magic freezer.

I find lots of great stuff in the freezer. Fancy sausages, Denver ribs, veal bones and hairy pigs feet.  Just today I found andouille! 

Lovely andouille that when added to fresh kale, julienne onion, butter, olive oil and white wine, achieves deliciousness. It reaches greatness when topped with toasted panko bread crumbs.

I would wish everyone with a stoner memory to have a special hiding place for wonderful things to eat. 

Eat well & Love Big.

xoxo

Nancy

 

Roast Brisket - Like roast beef - but better

I found love in the meat aisle for $3.99/pound.  Brisket. Homely beef brisket. But not corned — which is delicious — nor smoked — also marvelous — but roasted, low and slow.

Fork-tender, richly meaty strands of beef with melting fat that had been reduced to its essence. Compare the flavor of a ribeye to filet mignon, ribeye being fattier and richer while filet has a lighter, less intense flavor. That’s how I’d compare brisket to chuck roast. Brisket it just beefier.

For smoking, I prefer the plate or flat cut. For this, I like the triangular end cut that has-a-name-that-i-forget.

The length of time the meat roasts, one hour per pound at 300 degrees, makes the meat tender.

Nerd Alert: Heavy, sinuous cuts like brisket, neck, chuck, require low heat.  The interior has to reach 180 degrees F and remain there for an hour to melt the connective tissue, rendering the meat tender.

Prep the meat with a rub. Think “pot roast” not “BBQ”. Marinate it as long as possible, ideally overnight in the cooler. But just an hour will do. Pull the meat from the fridge and let it warm for one hour. Pre heat the oven to 300, put the meat in a closed Dutch oven or covered with foil, put it in the oven and forget it for one hour per pound. I set a timer for four hours and call it good.

I made two augments; one rub and one paste. The rub was heavy on salt, with onion powder, garlic powder and black pepper.

The paste was salt, prepared horseradish, maple syrup, and garlic. Next time I’ll add a half an onion, finely chopped.

Isn't she lovely?  I served it with a crunchy, acidic slaw of shredded cabbage

   

 

(The awkwardness of trying to blog on an iPad, with blogging software that is crap, slays me! As a result, this blog post may be even more rough-looking than usual.)

 

Love Big!

XOXO

Nancy 

Same as it ever was. Cranberry Walnut Bread

Most of my Christmas mornings, I woke up to this wonderful, light, fruity, breakfast bread.

It’s a simple recipe. Don’t have sour cream? Use yogurt or cream. If you have heavy cream, sour it with a Tbsp of acid.  I like using lemon.  Let it thicken and there ya go.

No oranges? Use whatever citrus you have.  It’ll be great.

Cranberry Nut Bread

(probably from the Ocean Spray package in 1972)

1 egg

3/4 c sugar

1 c sour cream

2-1/2 cups flour (I sub 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour for 1/4 c AP flour)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 t salt

3 Tbsp grated orange peel (I use a bartender’s channel knife)

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 1/4 cup coarsely chopped cranberries (about half a bag)

Beat egg, add sugar. Stir in sour cream.  In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients. Add wet and mix till moist.  Fold in the orange peel, walnuts and cranberries. Turn into a large BUTTERED loaf pan or two small loaves.

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes for small pans, 45 for a large loaf.

Do the toothpick thing to determine doneness.

Love Big!

xoxo

Nancy

AStonerCrone

MahKitchen

 

 

 

Ancient Grain + Old-Fashioned Shortbread = Thoroughly Modern Cookie

Thank You Bon Appetit for publishing a lovely Einkorn (Wheat) Shortbread cookie recipe.  I’ve tweaked it a bit but I love how ancient, un-messed-with-Einkorn flour makes a thoroughly tasty, absolutely modern, old-fashioned shortbread cookie.

Here’s the recipe:

Einkorn Shortbread Cookies

Yield: 12 cookies but the recipe doubles easily

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees

1/4 c dark brown sugar (packed)

1/4 c powdered sugar

1 stick (1/2 cup or 8 oz) UNSALTED butter at room temp.

3/4 cup Einkorn wheat flour

1/2 AP flour

1 teaspoon Maldon or kosher salt

This recipe uses a standard food processor for best results. I’m sure a mixer would work just as well. 

And you’ll need parchment paper.

Pulse sugars in a food processor.  While the sugar dust settles in the bowl, cut the butter into small chunks.  Pulse sugars and butter until blended.

Add flours and salt and pulse until dough forms.

Tip the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper.

Pat into an inch-thick disc. Top with another piece of parchment and roll out to a 1/3 to 1/2 inch thickness. Move the top piece of parchment to a sheet tray or cookie sheet.

Cut the dough on the diagonal and gently place the cookies on the parchment.

Bake for a total of 30 minutes, turning the tray at the half-way point.

Chris pairs a cookie with a square of 88% dark chocolate.

Recipe notes: I originally used cookie cutters but I think the dough gets tough when it’s re rolled. 

The Maldon adds a tangible pop of salt as you eat the cookie. You would lose that effect if you used salted butter or table salt.

Enjoy these cookies. 

We sure have!

With Much Love,

Nancy 

A Stoner Crone (who still loves to cook but was very busy with the cannabis harvest this year)

Horseradish & Maple Marinade—sounds weird, tastes great

I don’t know who’s paying attention but wintery cuts of meat like short ribs, chuck roast, pork loin, and flank steak are really inexpensive this time of year. Who wants slow cooked short ribs or roast pork when it’s 100 degrees?* Nobody, that’s who. 

But I do LOVE a bargain so I do two things with this windfall. 1) freeze sale meats till winter or 2) turn winter meats into summer grilling stars. (At the end of this post is a Pro Tip: a way to use a cheap pork loin.)

Tenderized and marinated flank steak ($4.50/pound) is amazing on the grill. It somewhat reminds me of the London Broil my mom used to make with a delicious crispy edge, a result of the sugar in her marinade of a whole bottle of Wishbone French dressing.

My marinade is very different, but still savory/sweet. The best part is that it yields crispy edges that are sweet and burned, with meat that’s juicy and horseradish-spicy and maple syrup rich.

Horseradish and Maple Marinade

for 1-1/2 to 2 pounds Flank steak

1/2 medium onion, rough chopped

3 oz olive oil (fluid oz)

4 oz white balsamic vinegar (fluid oz)

1 Tbsp salt

3 cloves garlic, rough chopped

1 Tbsp & 1 teaspoon Extra Hot horseradish.  I love Beaver brand.

2 oz maple syrup

Using an immersion blender, food processor, or blender, purée all the above ingredients (except the beef)

Tenderize the flank steak if you have a meat tenderizer. Marinate the meat overnight.  

Grill on a hot hot hot preheated grill, turning often (you’re looking for an overall char, not grill marks) until the center of the meat feels rare (temp between 110-120 ish).

REST THE MEAT.  If it doesn’t rest for at least 10 minutes, it’ll be undercooked and as dry as a well-done hamburger. All your work will be for NAUGHT.

Slice thinly and serve with a drizzle of melted butter and some crunchy salt.  The meat is also fantastic chilled for picnic sandwiches.

Pro tip: Buy a vacuum packed or fresh (preferred) pork loin roast ($2.29/pound). Not a tenderloin, you need the fat and darker meat of the whole loin.  Now cut it like pork chops (across the grain) and grill it.  This is one of the only times I like flavored pepper — or pepper at all (makes food look dirty).  Hit it with salt and pepper and for heavens sake DO NOT OVERCOOK the chops.  

Pull it at rare, and let it rest up to medium.  Finish with lemon, butter and salt.

Be well,

Eat well.

Love Big.

xoxo Nancy

* Yup, 100 F is the current temp in Portland Oregon.