Posole / Pozole: Sign of the Season

In the Southwest, there's nothing like a pot of posole this time of year. I've been arguing with folks lately about whether its more seasonal to have posole or tamales...there's been no definitive answer.
So I added posole to our recipe list. We had that fresh local pork, and I knew I had the posole corn in my freezer at the store, so I turned it over to Tyler to do the rest.

My ties to posole go back to my time in Alamosa, CO (the coldest spot in the lower 48). This time of year I would go to house parties and every single event would have a huge pot of posole with green chile corn bread. One event in particular was an annual gathering and we would sit around with songbooks and sing together. The group was all grown hippies so all of the songs would be 60's peace songs and such.

Well, our guests for the posole I'm sure are hippies in some way, but more along the lines of foodie hippie friends. Previously mentioned tamal/tortilla instructor, Consuelo and local intellect, Tom joined us, as did computer whiz/classical guitarist Ron and Therapist/mood uplifter, Kat.

Two bottles of wine were downed before the first bite, courtesy of our down/up the street neighbors.

Ron and Kat kicked off the meal with this fantastic salad weighted down with voluptuous blackberries.


Then came the soup. Tyler filled the table with every chile we had in the cupboard for folks to season their own soup: habañero, pequin, New Mexico red, and nora Spanish chiles. He also included the traditional oregano.

A little bit of my sourdough and...

Look at how hearty that spoonful is!

And finally, a revamp of Elvis' poundcake using dried cherries and pistachios.

This essentially ends the pre-holiday since there are no more events planned. I have no more caters, just a few small dessert orders. That means, we just hunker down and make sure our customers get all of the holiday joys that they need. For some that will be gifts, for others just the joy of time with friends (and/or store clerks).

Today we also celebrate the passing of one of our employee's husbands who passed last night. We also lost a dear church friend the same day. I sure look forward to solstice and the promise of a new season!

Cater: No Limits

I got to do a catering job that didn't restrict me financially - for the first time ever! How fun! This past weekend I catered a local doctor's office staff party. While there were some financial restrictions, they were hardly restrictive, so it allowed me to play a bit. The doc also specifically requested more playful food for himself and his wife, while also accounting for his more culinarily conservative staff.

I created, essentially three menus for them, with some shared items. Everyone had organic green salad, sourdough rolls, roasted potato wedges and green beans with toasted piñon and lemon. Then I added tri-olive tapenade set in olive oil crisp cups seasoned with anise, topped with candied kumquat:


Goat carnitas with avocado in fillo cones:


A sous vide cooked tenderloin, simply salt-n-pepper pan finished:


Sous vide tenderloin that was seasoned with molè dulce prior to sealing in the bag, and then pan finished with the same molè. While not pretty in the pic, this was amazingly good. I served it with a savory granola, hazelnut pudding with szechuan peppercorns and chocolate soil. What a combo!

I'd like to try this again encasing the tenderloin in the granola then pan finishing it. I think that would be nice.

Finally, three desserts. A traditional French Bouche Noel (I'll post on this later), a flourless chocolate orange cake, and this Tres Leches Egg Nog Cake which I spiked with brandy:

Homemade Goodness: Marmalade, Pomegranate Curd & More

Last week I shared my concerns over how the financial universe is playing out. It's a scary time. It's a humbling time. It forces one to practice their mindfullness and positive, constructive attitude. I also have been thinking about my cold, dark walks to the store each morning (it really is a retrospective time of year!) and what I'm doing with my life. I mean really - I have a PhD, 20 years of great experience in various forms of management, and here I am baking cookies for a living. We're barely surviving financially and have to figure out where our next meal and mortgage payment are coming from. What the hell am I thinking/doing!?

But, possibly for the first time in my life, the world feels right. Even with all the chaos around us, I believe I am where I should be, doing what I should be doing. I have this cockamamey test that I do. When I'm in the shower, I stand on my tiptoes. Before this career, when I did this, I couldn't stand without wobbling over for more than a second or two. Now, I can stand for as long as I want. It feels like an alignment or balancing of my universe. So every morning that I stand on my toes, I suck up the fatigue, splash my face with water and head down for another morning of baking and cooking.

I think about my friends and family (and my previous self) who get rutted into a career where you get decent money, but you always want more. I did that for 20 years and loved every single job: running the campus fitness center, outreach to underinsured and Sudanese immigrants, ski resort worker, temp receptionist, homeless youth services, youth camps. Loved each and every one of them. And I loved the pay. But, I always wanted more.

So is my purpose in life to bake cookies? Hardly. But is my purpose to bring joy to people through my creations? Absolutely. I've been getting feedback this week on my sugar cream pie that I sold over Thanksgiving. Everyone has been effusively praiseful and thankful because their guests loved the pies. I got to help them create memories. How fun and rewarding is that?! And, while memory creation may not pay well, I believe it will pay for itself in the end.

So here's a few items I've created for sale in the store the past week. They've been flying off the shelf and I'm having trouble keeping up with demand. First, using the rest of my pomegranates from the Mimbres Valley, I made pomegranate curd:

I also made this beautiful orange marmalade with blood orange and jasmine pearl tea. nice and chunky with a good mix of sweet and tart.

And using the leftover syrup from the lemon peel candying, I made lemon caramels with toasted piñon and French grey salt.



Tomorrow I'll try to crank out a bunch of lemon curd which sells as fast as I can make it. I also want to create French nougat because all of these curds are leaving me with (literally) gallons of whites. As we like to say at the Kumquat...Life's a Banquet!

blog updates

You have probably noticed that I've added a few widgets and such to the blog. If they're annoying, just let me know and I'll zap them. If you like them, do the same.

Truffle Pillow: TGRWT Trial #1

Wouldn't you love to just nestle your tired little head into a pillow of soft chocolate?
This month's They Go Really Well Together flavor pairing is chocolate and caraway. I have an idea for my final product, but I wanted to taste the combo first, so I steeped toasted caraway in water for three hours, then I made a water based ganache. Water ganaches really are great since you get a pure flavor - no dairy to cloud the issue. I didn't measure amounts on this batch and ended up with a perfect texture - just strong enough to hold, but so incredibly soft that they oozed to engulf your mouth the second your breath hit them.

But how was the taste? Well, I didn't taste the caraway at all. That's a bummer. So, next I'll try an oil infusion...butter or a neutral oil. I've got lot's of time on this one, so plenty of practice to be enjoyed. It also led me to package my truffles and put them on the shelf for some lucky customer.

"I'm going to smile for the camera...why?!"

Why is Tyler smiling for the camera? Because its second nature in our house. There's food. I have a camera. He just happens to be in the shot. Congratulations! You didn't even get cropped out of this one.
And why should I crop him out. He made a great tagine with chicken, meaty olives, preserved lemon and carrots. It was very good, and made on the fly.

Just what the arts ordered - speculaaskoekjes

Okay, so the title seemed like it would be funny, but only our Dutch speaking readers will get it. In Dutch, "arts" means "doctor." And since Klary recommended I eat some speculaaskoekjes to get over the tough week, and she's from the Netherlands...get it...never mind.

Stupid title aside, I made a batch of cookies this morning with some spices that Klary had sent me a few weeks ago.

Then I found her recipe at eG HERE. It just so happened it fell after our first snow.

So while my morning routine was cranking out, I stopped, enjoyed some speculaaskoekjes fresh from the oven (I sold the rest...always looking to make a dime!) and converted some leftover ganache (which is always readily available in my kitchen) into hot chocolate. I took a rare moment to sit and enjoy the hot cup and cookie in our front window.

Then it was back to work for what turned out to be a really fun and prosperous day!