Partying with macaroons

It's Easter! It's the day Christians celebrate Christ's return from death to hide candy-filled eggs in back yards everywhere, marking the arrival of spring and the Great Chocolate Easter Bunny. Or something like that.

Whether you're partying for Jesus or for the arrival of daffodils, I think today calls for cute, springtime snacks. God's given me a few taps on the shoulder lately to remind me that our time on this planet is brief. He's reminded me to celebrate my friends and family often, with sprinkles if possible.


I baked macaroons for you because April is a party month; it's got Easter, Passover, and spring on its résumé. Plus, many fantastic Aries and Pisces friends I know charged into the world this month. I brought a plate of party macaroons to Deva Kelly for her 40th birthday, and if my husband liked coconut at all, I would have baked more for his birthday. (He got lemon cupcakes, instead.)

Today, I'll bake some for Easter dinner with the Marigold Terrace peeps, and then bring another plate of these beauties to Marvelous Mr. Norcross' party. I hope you'll bake a batch soon for a party near you. They're delicious--the main requirement of a dessert, delightful to behold, and dangerously quick to assemble.

"Cute" party foods like candy-coated Peeps, cake pops, and mini-cupcakes lose their allure when I think about the labor required to create them compared with the rapidity with which recipients gobble them up. Why spend three hours making miniature cupcakes when I can spend a quick 30 macaroons? By switching recipes, I avoid the waning petite cupcake "trend" and have an extra 2 1/2 hours to enjoy life. I hope you feel the same way, especially since coconut has crept alongside chocolate and marshmallow in many American Easter celebrations.



Neighbor Kristen and I both lost friends and colleagues this month, and the losses came suddenly. Since April is about the life, death, and rebirth, I'll also set a few party macaroons aside for our friends who went on to the Next Great Adventure this month. The party's not as fun without you.



Party macaroons
makes about 2 dozen

• 8 oz. shredded, unsweetened coconut
  
• egg whites from 2 large eggs
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup honey or agave nectar
  
• 1-2 Tb. cane sugar for sprinkling
  
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt

Ganache

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 6 oz. chopped bittersweet chocolate
• confetti sprinkles, candy dots, or mini m&ms
  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg whites, honey, and sea salt until the mixture is good n' frothy. Stir in the coconut and mix with a fork until everything is moistened. Let the mixture rest so that the coconut can absorb as much of the gooey liquid as possible. After 5 minutes, the coconut should remain moist; when you squish it with a fork, little--if any--liquid should rise through the tines.

Spray a tablespoon with non-stick cooking spray and use the spoon to form semi-spheres of macaroon. Pack the tablespoon tight before turning each macaroon out on the baking sheet.
Repeat with the rest of the batch. You should have about 2 dozen macaroons. Sprinkle 1 - 2 Tb. cane sugar over the macaroons to give them a crunchy sugar glaze.

Bake until macaroons are a light golden brown, about 15 - 25 minutes. Let the macaroons cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

While the macaroons are baking, prepare the ganache. Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove the pan from heat. Quickly stir in the semi-sweet chocolate until the ganache is smooth, with no lumps. Let the ganache sit at room temperature as the macaroons cool. Once the macaroons cool completely, use a table knife to carefully frost the top of each macaroon. Place each macaroon back on the baking sheet after it's coated with ganache.

Give the macaroons a good dusting of confetti sprinkles, then pop the baking sheet in your freezer for 10-15 minutes, until the chocolate sets. The macaroons will keep for several days at room temperature (covered in plastic) or for a week in the fridge. They also freeze beautifully if you wrap each macaroon tightly in plastic wrap, then drop the macaroons in a freezer-safe bag.


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Foodie Adventure #1: Beast

Hello, dear In a Pickle readers. With your permission, I'd like to try something new.

Usually, I keep a pretty rigid format: story, photo, story, photo, recipe. While this format works well for most of the food stories I share with you, sometimes it's limiting.

So, I'm adding a new kind of post to the site: the foodie adventure! When I take a baking class or learn how to roast coffee, I'll share what I learned with you here. Think of it this way: I'm a foodie layperson who is willing to go out into the world and report back on her adventures. You'll see new culinary landscapes through my field notes. It's like we're on safari, without those darling pith helmets. (Or with them. I'll wear one if you do.)

From now on, I'll tag all of these posts #foodieadventures for your convenience. Expect great stories, compelling photos, and new tricks for cooking that don't necessarily translate into a "recipe."

On to the first adventure!

Lamb loin with thyme, pickled cherries, and spring radishes

Last week, I was lucky enough to attend a Taste event to benefit Morrison Child and Family Services. Taste raises awareness and funding for children's mental health services while giving foodies a behind-the-curtains view of local wineries and restaurants. I attended a "DIY Butchery" class with about 10 other foodies at Beast in northeast Portland.

The team at Beast gave us a short overview of butchery, then gave us cooking tips as they prepared our dinner. Staff from Adelsheim Vineyard in Newberg paired wines with each dinner course and shared beautiful stories about each wine's origin and personality.

Morrison's Development Director Leslie Brock gives our "class" a warm welcome

Beast is a six-course prix-fixe restaurant that celebrates all things meaty. Chef Naomi Pomeroy and her two-person staff offer two nightly seatings during the week, plus a Sunday brunch. Her menu changes weekly, depending on the seasonal ingredients she has on hand.

Walk softly and carry a big grater.

Both Naomi and Beast have received heaps of accolades lately--both locally and nationally. The Oregonian named Beast and Le Pigeon co-Restaurant of the Year. Pomeroy's also one of 12 chefs on this season's Bravo's Top Chef Masters competing for charity.

Naomi's a a self-taught chef who learned to cook through practice and through her fascination with cookbooks. She was also a vegetarian for seven years...before bouncing back to the dark side.


She proved her renewed love for all things meat immediately, preparing an a duck liver pâté appetizer with Armagnac, tomato paste, nutmeg, and scallions. She broiled raisin walnut bread from Ken's Artisan Bakery for an accompanying crostini. Swoon. It was a delicious collision of sweet bread and savory pâté.

As Naomi gave us a lay of the land at Beast, her butcher, Emily McHenry, began to prep our dinner, a lamb from Mohawk Valley Meats in Springfield, Oregon. Emily is a cheerful Okie (Oklahoma native) who trained to become a butcher at Fleisher's in New York.

Naomi gives Emily an extra pair of hands

Below, you'll see Emily portioning out strips of lamb for dinner; the other portions she cut and stored for dinners at Beast that week. As she worked, Emily told us how to use each part of the animal: the neck for soups and stews, the bones for stock, the belly for curing with herbs. Emily knows endless uses for every part of the animal. I like that she applies the idiom "waste not, want not" to her practice as a butcher.


"Think of the animal as a suspension bridge," Emily told us while stretching out the lamb. "The front and hind legs do most of the work and the muscle is more developed. The central part of the lamb does less work and the muscles are more tender."

Emily was the only girl in her classes at Fleisher's. "It was a pretty macho atmosphere," she said, "but the knives helped even things out." And how. Check out her hip holster of knives.

Foodie field note: acquire a hip holster of knives.

Emily can carve anything with these.

As Emily worked on the lamb, Adrian prepped fruits, vegetables, and scallops for the evening's other courses. Adrian came to Beast after working for a successful restaurant in the Napa Valley.


Adrian was shy of the spotlight, preferring to cook in the background. (He wouldn't even reveal his last name, no matter how politely we asked.) However, Naomi happily bragged on his skills and expertise in botany. He's interested in horticulture and raises animal "for fun" in his spare time.


He's also a wizard when it comes to searing scallops. Naomi says there are a few tricks to getting the perfect sear on a scallop. First, make sure the pan you use is freaking hot! Keep the scallops dry and seasons them with salt and pepper. Use lots of butter to help the scallops caramelize the protein on each side.

Foodie field note: use more butter. Meat sears well when you use lots of butter an don't crowd the pan.

Seared sea scallops, shaved fennel & citrus with cracked green peppercorn aioli

See those elegant slices of fruit draped over the shaved fennel? Adrian carefully sliced away the outer skins of blood orange and grapefruit slices to create that effect. We watched him patiently slice, slice, slice while Naomi and Emily talked. He dressed the fennel with citrus juices and some chopped herbs.

Until this course, I'd never tried a salad with fennel as a base. Why did I wait? Fennel has a light and crispy texture similar to an onion, but a watery, fresh taste like celery or cilantro. David Adelsheim paired this course with their fruity 2009 Auxerrois.

Foodie field notes: Experiment with fennel, especially dressed with orange or grapefruit juices. Also, aioli improves almost any food experience.


Next up, French onion soup with duck and beef stock and a Gruyère crouton.

The onions in this rich broth had been caramelized within an inch of their lives. The soup stock was so dark and mysterious that I felt it also contained the answer to all of life's secrets. After some research in this vein, I discovered the answer to all of life's secrets is a Gruyère crouton.

Naomi likes to mix different stocks to add depth to soups. This French onion soup reached depths that the lost city of Atlantis could only hope to achieve. I never thought French onion soup could be misanthropic, but it can be. None of my dining companions wanted this soup to end.

Foodie field note: It's easy to make your own soup stock, Naomi says. "Roast your bones 'till they're golden," add a mirepoix and thyme, and roast at 300 degrees Fahrenheit (covered in foil) for 12 hours. And if you have some extra "meaty bits" from cutting up your duck or lamb? Toss those into the stock, too.

Freshly cut lamb tenderloin with radishes

Finally, after an afternoon of lessons and butchery demonstration, we enjoyed the fruits of Naomi, Emily, and Adrian's labor: lamb tenderloin with radishes and pickled cherries.

Foodie field notes: The lamb is so tender! Naomi placed a strip of butter-and-herb-soaked baguette down the center of each tenderloin roll. The bread kept the tenderloin moist while infusing it with herbs. Also, I must try pickling my own cherries and braising radishes with the tops attached.

Miscellaneous field notes:

• Not pictured: the cheese course. Naomi tucked nubs of Italian goats milk cheese into squares puff pastry, then baked them 'till golden and bubbly. They were paired with fresh microgreens that had been tossed in lemon juice. Fresh, lemony microgreens cut the oiliness of the cheese pastry.
  

• On storing fresh garlic, Adrian says to submerge freshly peeled or chopped garlic in olive oil to stop the cloves from oxidizing. Cut garlic tastes less fresh and more sharp the longer it is exposed to air.
  

• Our dessert of chilled vanilla crème with poached Angelico plums is also not pictured, wholly due to my lack of camera skills. Naomi says the vanilla creme takes "no brains" to prepare. Just "heat some cream to a boil, add sugar and vanilla, whip in some gelatin and let it set." Though simple, the creme tasted heavenly, especially with a side of poached plums. I'll experiment with this dessert and bring you the results in post form.

I'm so thankful for the opportunity to attend this demonstration and dinner, and even happier that it benefits a worthy cause. Naomi knows the people who raise her animals and the farmers who grow her produce. She and her team are talented and passionate about food, and it shows in their work.

If my foodie adventure sparked your imagination, guess what? Morrison Child & Family Services is holding its next Taste event Thursday at Thirst Wine Bar & Bistro. Find more information on Morrison and the rest of its Taste series here.

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