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!

Cornbread better than Jiffy (there, I said it)

I love regional cuisine recipe pamphlets. I have one from Monument Valley filled with Native American dishes, one or two from Ireland, Scotland, and Bavaria.  But the one I use the most is “Southern Cookbook, ‘250 Fine Old Recipes.’”

I got it in Memphis, Tennessee at A Schwab drug store, on Beale Street, in the early 1990s. From it I’ve made beaten biscuits, pecan pralines and dumplings (as in Chicken and…). But my favorite recipe in this book is also my favorite cornbread recipe.

The basic recipe is better tasting than Jiffy — but it will take a few minutes longer.

Here it is (with a few adaptations):

Cornbread

1 cup sifted flour

1/8 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup yellow cornmeal (or any cornmeal — I use some local, crunchy stuff)

1 cup buttermilk (or heavy cream or crème fraîche, or half-and-half)

1 egg, well beaten

6 t lard, butter, bacon fat (choose your fat)

Preheat the oven to 425. Put 6 T of your desired fat into a well-seasoned cast iron pan. (Or sub an 8”x8” glass brownie pan) and put the pan in the oven to melt the fat. When melted, swirl the melted fat around to coat the pan.*

Blend the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. Mix in the cornmeal.

In a separate bowl, quickly blend the beaten egg, dairy product, and melted fat. (You mix it quickly so the hot fat doesn’t scramble the egg)

Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and add the wet mixture. Mix until just smooth. Do not overmix. Turn Into your hot pan, spreading the batter to the corners.

Now the fun part—the add-in’s. To this basic recipe I’ll add five chopped, roasted & cleaned hatch chilies and half an ear of corn, cut off the cob. If the corn is raw, throw 1/2 c of fresh corn into the pan with the fat. Then mix as above, adding the chopped chilies to the final few turns of the spatula.

Bake at 425°F about 20 min., or until cake tester or wooden pick comes out clean when inserted in center of bread. 

TThis is my favorite cornbread recipe by far.  I think it’s really easy,  Maybe not as easy as Jiffy muffins, but darn close.

Eat Well & Love Big

xoxo Nancy

 

* Props to my bestie Jeanne, a Texan who taught me how to make cornbread. 

The Quest for Perfect Pickled Watermelon Rind

When I was a wee lass of 6 or 7 or maybe 8, some friends of my parents brought over a jar of pickled watermelon rind.  It blew my 6, 7 or maybe 8-year old mind. Sweet!? Sour!? “This is a pickle?” I thought. It was chunky, dark & syrupy, and I wanted more. 

Fast forward 55 years or so, and I’m trying (for the fourth time) to make a great pickled watermelon rind.  

My first attempt was about 10 years ago. They were awful — mushy and over-sweet.

About six months ago, my second attempt used the recipe by Vivian Howard in her cookbook Deep Run Roots  The taste was spot on but the consistency was off. So I tried again. 

The morning of July 7 began my fourth attempt at perfect pickled watermelon rind.

This watermelon rind is thick - it’s an organic black seedless (Yumi) watermelon - so
I’m really hoping for success. I’m working half the rind of a medium-sized melon, roughly four pounds. 

I peeled, trimmed, and brined the rinds, removing 90% of the pink flesh. The brine is one quart water, 1/4 c salt (3.75% brine). This is how they looked when I took them out of the brine.

The next day I prepared the vinegar brine. One cup lemon juice, four cups sugar, two cups apple cider vinegar (here Vivian and I part — she uses white wine vinegar, I used organic apple cider vinegar), two cups water, one 3-inch piece of ginger peeled & sliced into coins, a teaspoon of coriander, a cinnamon stick, about 10 cloves and three or so pieces of star anise. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

With the brine ready to go, it’s time for the next step: Add watermelon, one thinly sliced lemon, and the zest of one orange

(removed with a peeler, white removed with a paring knife). Bring back to a boil and… 

Now the tricky part. Ms Howard recommends simmering the whole lot for 40 minutes or until 50% of the chunks of melon are translucent.  I simmered them for 30 minutes the first time, & 20 minutes the second time. I felt like both were ‘overcooked’.

This time, they were 50% translucent after 12 minutes. So I pulled them from the heat and let them sit for a few hours. The above photo is how they looked when I took them off the heat. Once finished and ready to store in the fridge, they looked like this:

So pretty! And the consistency is dead on. A slight crunch, then a yielding, soft texture. Sweet, sour & chewy, they taste like summer in a jar. 

Really, just about perfect.

Eat Well &

Love Big!

xoxo nancy

Lentil Soup with Peanut Butter

I was listening to a story on the radio about nutrition density in food intended to feed refugees. Peanut butter, added to lentil soup, adds maximum nutrition for minimal cost. It’s is nutrient dense and really freaking delicious.

I adapted this from various lentil soup recipes—some my own and some from the interwebs. The spice blend and the peanut butter make this an interesting and delicious soup, with a nod to northern African cuisine.

Lentil Soup with Peanut 🥜 Butter

Ingredients:

2 ea carrots,🥕 small dice

2 ea celery sticks, small dice

1 large onion, 🧅 small dice

1 c lentils. I used French Green lentils but beluga lentils would be great. Yellow or red might get mushy.*

4 c stock (chicken or veg)

3 cl garlic, 🧄 mashed, chopped, whatever

1 1/2 inches of ginger, 🫚 grated on a microplane

2 T conserva or tomato paste (if you’re not using tomato 🍅 paste in a squeeze tube, you should) 

1 c coconut 🥥 milk (or use the whole can)

Spices: 1/2 t of each: cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, clove

1/4 t cayenne

1/2 c smooth peanut 🥜 butter  

Garnish with basil, swirl in yogurt, and/or serve over rice

Directions:

Simmer lentils, mirepoix, stock, garlic, ginger, tomato paste, spices, and coconut milk, stirring often, for one hour. Check the lentils for doneness, they should be toothsome & firm but not hard. Definitely not mushy.

If the lentils are done, add the peanut butter, and mix well. If the soup is too thick, add additional stock or water. Check seasoning, depending on the stock you use, you may need to add salt.

And that’s it. An amazing lentil soup.

Bon Appetit! 

Next time notes: I’ll sauté the mirepoix in coconut oil, and hold out the ginger and spices to be added 30 minutes into simmering.

Eat Well &

Love Big

xoxo

Nancy

Hey—I’m selling some stuff, jewelry and MCM antiques on eBay as AStonerCrone If you are bored, check it out.

 

 

* You make it and tell me 

Are bran brownies…branies?

I’m saying yes.

My daily dose of bran (oh god I’m so old) comes in the form of a cereal called All Bran. I’m nutty about the stuff (although I also love Grape Nuts, come to think of it). 

There’s a lovely Brownie recipe on the box. Here it is with my modifications noted.

Branies

2/3 c flour—I use 1/3 AP 1/3 whole wheat

1/4 t salt

1/2 c cocoa powder

2 eggs

1 c sugar — I use a few less tablespoons 

1/3 c All Bran Buds cereal 

1 t vanilla — I use 2 t of bourbon vanilla 

1/2 c (one stick) butter, unsalted

Add in’s (rough amounts): 1/2 c walnuts (barely chopped)*

1/2 c Chocolate chips*

1/3 c candied ginger, cut into small pieces— see photo.

1/2 c shredded coconut

Fat pinch of Maldon or another crunchy salt.

Really, any nuts (tho I prefer porous ones like pecans and walnuts), any dried fruit (cut apricots and cherries), you get the idea. Within reason, the only limiter is the depth of your brownie pan.

Directions:

In a small bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside. Grease a brownie pan (8”x8”) with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until light. Gradually add sugar. Beat until fluffy. Fold in cereal, vanilla, and melted butter. Then fold in flour and add-in’s. Spread evenly in the prepared bowl brownie pan. Sprinkle with flakey salt.

Bake @350 for 25 to 35 minutes. Sorry about the imprecision because if over-baked, they become dry and very crumbly. Begin checking every 5 minutes at 25 minutes. In my oven they take 32 minutes. Use a toothpick to check for doneness. 

These cake-like branies stale quickly.

Cheers & Much Love

Nancy

 

* Required ;-)

 

 

Parmesan Croutons - delicious crunchy chewy nuggets of umami

With thanks to @SheenaPrakash, author of Salad Seasons: Vegetable-Forward Dishes All Year, this is the most TicToc, Instagrammable, FaceBookish cooking-hack/thing/pro-tip I’ve learned all year.

Turn Parmesan rinds into crunchy Parmesan croutons. These little joy nuggets are crunchy and stay crunchy under refrigeration. They add texture and umami to anything you put them on. Soup, salad, you name it.

To make Parmesan Croutons, cut them into tiny squares and bake them @ 350 degrees for 15-ish minutes for crunchy croutons, 10 minutes for soft and chewy nuggets.

In the photo, please note the size— a diminutive 1/4 inch square. Also note, the squares are resting on the rind.

Bake them until they smoke. When they smoke a little, they’re going to be soft and juicy. Five more minutes and they’re smoking-like-to-set-off-the-smoke-alarm baked to crunchy perfection.

That’s it.

There will be some oil run-off. Gently tip it off into a small vessel. 

Now we have two more great things to do with Parmesan rinds.

Parmesan broth,* and Parmesan croutons.

Eat well & love big.

xoxo

Nancy

* This should be its own post, but here it is: Put 4 oz Parmesan rinds in a crock pot (I use a two-quart mini one for this recipe). Add aromatics (onion, carrot, celery & herbs) and cover with 6 cups of water. Cook on low for 8 hours. Strain.  Use in soups for extra umami.

Why aren’t you making minestrone?

Minestrone is the best soup for this time of year — the saddle season between winter and spring. It uses some pantry/freezer staples - canned beans and chicken stock - and veggies you have on hand plus some leftover pasta.

This photo is of the minestrone veggies, with a block of frozen chicken stock melting. Yum!

Here’s my Minestrone recipe

1 onion, medium dice

2 carrots, medium dice

2 sticks celery, medium dice

1 leek (Light green/white part only) rinsed and chopped &/or 1 shallot &/or 4 cloves of garlic

1/4 c olive oil (maybe less)

1/3 c white wine (maybe more)

1 can diced or chopped or whole tomatoes, no salt variety

1 qt (32 oz aka 4 c) chicken stock (or veg stock)

3 springs fresh thyme (or a fat pinch of dried) (sub 1 t fresh rosemary)

1 15-oz can cannellini beans, drained (any white bean will do)

1 or 2 c leftover pasta, cut to size for a soup spoon (I like penne, it makes lovely little rings)

EDIT: I completely forgot the kale! Chiffonade about 2 c of kale (or less) and mix it in with the pasta.  Sorry! #AStonerCrone #PDXJerseyGirl

Grated Parmesan cheese and black pepper to finish.

Heat olive oil and sauté all veg but the garlic until soft and slightly brown. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant (approx 3 min). Deglaze the pan with wine. Add the stock and tomatoes. Simmer on low for 25 minutes or so, until the carrots are firm but edible.*

Add beans.  

At this point (in a perfect world) I love to stop the whole process — cool the soup, and refrigerate it overnight. It benefits from the rest - the flavors come alive.

And that’s it. I like to add the pasta right before serving so it stays intact. I also add Parmesan and ground pepper when serving.

Easy peasy and a wonderful reminder that spring, and all the wonderful veggies, is right around the corner.

Eat well & Love Big!

xoxo

Nancy

 

* Carrots are my canary in the coal mine, if they taste good, everything else is ready.

 

 

Wake Up Your Winter Veg!

I made a fantastic recipe by Gabrielle Hamilton that ran in the NYT.  Anchovy Garlic Dressing.  But ‘dressing’ is too weak a descriptor. It’s a sauce. A strong sauce.

Lemon, garlic & anchovy strong sauce

2 lemons - juiced and strained (about 3 oz)

10 anchovy filets (one 2 oz tin)

5 cloves of garlic, grated on the microplane

1 t salt

1 c mellow, fruity olive oil

1/2 t red pepper

Blitz everything but the red pepper flakes with an immersion blender. You want it to retains some texture, with pieces of fish small enough to pass through a wide squeeze bottle top.  Then add the red pepper flakes.

I roasted a head of cauliflower, then tossed it in this sauce and it was fantastic.  Lick-your-plate delicious. 

And, before you ask, it is not overly fishy.  It has about the same fish intensity as Caesar salad dressing.  

Sorry, no pictures except for one of the new couch. From where I am currently writing. It’s big, blue, and oh-so-soft.

Eat well & Love Big!

xoxo

Nancy

#anchoviesrock @AStonerCrone 

Chanterelle Mushroom Season

Autumn in Portland is equal parts rain, sun, and sun showers. Perfect for mushroom hunting and — in a wet-then-dry autumn — chanterelles.

Hopefully you have your (carefully guarded) chanterelle patch in the Coastal Range. Me? I forage at the grocery store. I brought home some wonderful mushrooms and made two of my favorite, and mostly easy, chanterelle recipes.

Chanterelle Mushroom Soup and Instapot Chanterelle Mushroom Risotto.

(Insert mushroom emoji)

Instapot Chanterelle Mushroom Risotto

4 T unsalted butter (divided use)

3 T EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) (divided use)

2 medium sized shallots, finely chopped

2 c chanterelle mushrooms (1/2 cup chopped, the rest torn)

1 c arborio rice

1 c cup dry white wine

4 c chicken stock

1/2 cup (or more) parmesan cheese, grated or shredded

1 T salt or TT (to taste)

Chopped chives or parsley to garnish

Easy peasy. Set the pot to sauté, high, and heat half the OO. When it’s hot, add shallots and sauté till translucent.  Add butter and the chopped mushrooms. When everything has a bit of color, add OO and/or butter if needed and add the Arborio rice. Stir until the rice is well coated. Deglaze the pot with white wine, reduce slightly and add chicken stock.  Add a fat pinch of salt, seal the Instapot and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes. Remember, 20 instapot minutes equals 30 minutes of real time. The pot has to reach high pressure before the 20 min time clock begins ticking.  

Here’s the fun part.  For risotto, I release pressure manually when the Instapot is finished cooking. Hit the toggle, a shoot five-foot geyser of steam into the air… it scares folks but it gets the job done.  

Unseal the pot and stir the risotto.  It’ll be very loose.  That’s good! Return the pot to a medium sauté, add the Parmesan and reserved mushrooms and check seasoning.  Serve garnished with whatever herbs you have; chive, parsley, thyme, and more cheese.

Chanterelle Mushroom Soup

1 lb. chanterelle mushrooms

4 T. butter

1 yellow onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 C. sherry

4-5 C. mushroom, vegetable or chicken broth

2 t. fresh thyme

2 t. fresh rosemary

1 C. heavy cream 

Even easier.  Sauté the onion. Add garlic, deglaze with sherry.  Add mush rooms, herbs, and stock.  Simmer for 30 minutes or so. Purée with a stick blender and check seasoning.  Add cream and serve with fresh herbs (chives are my fav) and crunchy croutons or crostini.

Love Big and Eat Well.

Much love,

Nancy

#AStonerCrone #MahKitchen #PDXJerseyGirl

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