Recipe of the Week: Lamb Kebabs

Tonight Kyle and I will have our families over for a Mother's Day dinner celebration and inspired by our upcoming cruise, we are going to have a Mediterranean themed feast! One of my more recent favorite library finds was the Williams Sonoma Family Meals cookbook, which featured this amazing recipe for lamb kabobs.

The meatballs are grilled, so they have that great smokey flavor. However, the meat stays super moist because of the fat content and the amazing ingredients you pack into the meatball.

 

We stuff pitas with the creamy cool raita and juicy meatball. Last time I also made a couscous dish with a recipe I found in my Food Network magazine. Tonight, we will have a yummy Mediterranean salad, hummus, and my dad is making a spanikopita and stuffed grape leaves.

Ingredients: 

For the raita: 

• 3 1/2 cups plain yogurt, or 2 cups plain Greek yogurt 
• 1 small English cucumber 
• 1 garlic clove, pressed 
• 1 Tbs. finely chopped fresh mint 
• 1 Tbs. finely chopped fresh cilantro 
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, plus more, to taste
• 1/8 tsp. ground cumin 
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper, plus more, to taste (optional)  

• 3/4 cup minced yellow onion 
• 3 garlic cloves, pressed 
• 2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro  
• 1 Tbs. chopped fresh mint 
• 1 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 
• 1 1/2 lb. ground lamb shoulder 
• 1 tsp. ground cumin 
• 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, plus more, to taste 
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste 
• Vegetable oil for grill rack 
• Pita bread rounds for serving 

Directions:

To make the raita, if using regular yogurt, spoon it into a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth placed over a bowl and refrigerate overnight, stirring the yogurt before you go to bed. When you wake up in the morning you will have about 2 cups of very thick yogurt and 1 cup or more of yogurt water. Discard the water and spoon the yogurt into a bowl. If using Greek yogurt, spoon into a bowl.

Peel the cucumber, halve lengthwise and scrape out any seeds with the tip of a small spoon. Grate on the large holes of a box grater-shredder or in a food processor fitted with the shredding attachment. Squeeze out the excess water from the cucumber with your hands until almost completely dry. You should have about 1 cup. Add to the yogurt.

Add the garlic, mint, cilantro, salt, cumin and cayenne and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the favors to blend, then taste and adjust the seasoning before serving.

Have ready 3 or 4 flat metal skewers, or soak 3 or 4 bamboo skewers in water to cover for at least 30 minutes. In a large bowl, combine the onion, garlic, cilantro, mint and parsley and mix well. Add the lamb and sprinkle with the cumin, salt and a few grindings of pepper. Quickly and gently mix with your hands to combine all of the ingredients evenly.

Divide the mixture into 12 equal portions, and shape into ovals. Drain the bamboo skewers, if using. Pick up a patty, stick the skewer lengthwise down the center, then repack the meat in the same shape around the skewer. Repeat, threading on 2 or 3 more ovals, depending on the length of the skewers, spacing them 1/2 inch apart. Place the skewer on a tray. Repeat until you have filled all of the skewers. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to firm up the meat before grilling.

Prepare a medium-hot fire in a grill and oil the grill rack. Season the kebabs lightly with salt and pepper. Place on the grill rack and cook, turning once, until golden on the outside and cooked through but still juicy, about 10 minutes on each side.
Transfer the skewers to a serving plate and let rest for 5 minutes. Then slide the kebabs off the skewers and serve immediately with the pita bread and raita. Serves 4 to 6.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Family Meals, by Maria Helm Sinskey (Oxmoor House, 2008).

And now a tribute to some of the amazing women in Kyle and my life: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

My Grandma Sumida who taught me how to say "thank you" before I could talk by waving my arm up and down. I am still able to get a lot more out of life by remembering to say, "thank you"!

My Grandma Nomura who taught me how important food can be for bringing a family together; always having spaghetti, Chinese pretzels, stew, or some other type of delicious dish on hand for family gatherings regardless if it was a planned or spontaneous event.

My mom, who taught me that a little bit (or a lot, in some cases) of salt can make anything taste good.

 

Kyle's Mom taught him how to make simple, yet delicious dishes so he could learn to cook for himself.

Kyle's Aunt Julie, who has always been like a second mother to him, taught him the Husky Fight Song "Bow Down to Washington" when he was a little kid; that passion for the Huskies and good food encouraged us to start hosting our own tailgates this past year, where we can combine his two favorite passions into one.

Kyle's grandmother taught him that good food can always be the highlight of a great family get together.  Everyone can always count on her delicious sushi for all of our family events or homemade kim chi.

 

This is one of my favorite photos of my mom and I.  I am just being self indulgent at this point!

 

 

A big HAPPY MOTHER'S Day to all the other wonderful women in our lives--you are all special and make our world and life happier because of your love and care.

Happy Eating,

Emi

Marination Station

The last couple of months have been crazy, to say the very least. Between my 3 week work trip, Kyle interviewing for (and getting!) a new job, and many other fun, but time-consuming and busy life events, time has slipped away from me and I am now sitting on over 23 unwritten posts. It is early on Saturday morning and I am going to try to chip away at the "drafts" that are patiently waiting for me to bring to life with some type of semi-decent caption.

Kyle and I have had the great pleasure of being at some of the city's most exciting restaurant openings. By chance, he stumbled into Ting Momo, Tom Douglas' new dumpling spot on it's grand opening day. We also popped into Bravehorse and he had a final feast on Wunderman's tab at Cuoco.

I have finally seen the day where my little column in the North American post has got me a free meal! In March I wrote an article on Marination Mobile, which has put Seattle street food on the map. Co-owner, Kamala Saxton, was so kind and generous with her time, and I was so lucky to have an opportunity to hear more about her business. At the end of April, they opened the doors to their new brick and mortar Marination Station (located on the corner of Pike & Broadway, above QFC) and an insignificant food blogger/writer for a small newspaper got a coveted invite to the soft opening!

I have never been to a soft opening of a restaurant, but I felt like a VIP when I walked in and found myself on "the list." The menu is similar to their truck, with one huge difference...there is beer! And not just any beer, Tiger beer, which was a staple of Kyle and my Singapore trip. Carmen and Jamie, let's put this on the list for your upcoming trip home!

Kamala came out, her typical huge smile and all, to say hello and greet guests. Luckily when my mom and I showed up, there were not a lot of people there yet. We got to talk with Kamala for a while and then headed to the front of the line where we ordered my favorite eats. About 10 seconds later, a huge crowd showed up and we were thankful that we beat the rush. 

Of course I ordered the spam slider and kalbi taco, two of Marination's best dishes. As always, it was delicious and a perfect bite of savory meat, crunchy slaw, and lick-the-plate-clean sauce.

My mom had not yet been to Marination Mobile and was excited to experience what all the hype is about. She agreed that the food is great, and she really liked the fact that we could sit indoors rather than standing outside the truck in the rain. As we are on the eve of Mother's Day, I am reminded of how lucky I am to be able to share memories like this with my amazing mother.

Congratulations, Marination Station! Thank you for the ono food and the warm Aloha hospitality. Be sure to check it out next time you are in Capitol Hill.

Happy Eating,

Emi

1st BBQ of the Year

This past weekend was the first time all year the temperature exceeded 60 degrees here in Seattle. It had been waaay too long since the last time we saw the sun and warm weather. With that in mind, I decided it was time to BBQ! I dropped by Central Market and picked up some Porterhouse steaks for Emi and myself to enjoy. We also had some frozen lobster tails that Emi had purchased earlier to add to the meal.

mmmmm steak and lobster, I've never BBQ'd lobster before, but it added a great flavor to the lobster tails. Since they weren't completely thawed out when I threw them on the BBQ, I had to cook them a little longer to get them all the way cooked through.

Emi made a garlic, sage butter to dip the decadent lobster tails in. She sauteed garlic and sage in the melted butter and also caramelized some onions on the side to serve with our steak. What an amazing, just what we needed meal and to top it all off you know we had to crack open a bottle of wine.

I also picked up a dozen Dabob Oysters for us to enjoy as appetizers. Nothing makes me happier than a nice meal in with the family and I'm happy I can finally start grilling again!

- Kyle

Restaurant Week - Poppy

My friend was in town visiting from San Francisco, so we wanted to catch up over a nice dinner during Restaurant Week. We decided on Poppy which is located off of Broadway in Capitol Hill. Poppy's head chef and owner is Jerry Traunfeld who we learned from our waiter was on Top Chef Masters. His inspiration comes from the "thali" which is a platter that holds multiple smaller dishes.

Emi started with the beet, oregon blue and bacon salad with spice bread croutons. The salad was a little tart, but the bacon and blue cheese helped bring the savory back to the dish.

My friend ordered the poached oysters with sorrel sauce. Poppy specializes and focuses on Pacific Northwest foods, fresh herbs and spices and this dish was a good representation of that. Don't think baked oyster Rockefeller, but yes poached soft oysters. Very delicious.

Personally I thought my dish was the best. I went with the Beechers cheddar and apple souffle with cress and spiced walnuts. So amazing, a little crispy and cheesy on the outside, but warm and soft on the inside. A perfect blend of savory and sweet. After starting out the meal with a delicate first course like this one, I knew we were in for a good meal.

The main course was almost like a seven course meal in one. Each thali came with multiple small, unique side dishes to enjoy with your "main" dish. This was Emi's green roasted halibut with carrot and fennel. It came with a beet and yogurt soup and all of the multiple side dishes.

Emi's currently in season halibut.

I went with his "famous" (he cooked it on Top Chef Masters and it was a favorite of the judges) lavender duck leg with blackberry sauce. Mine came with a truffle soup, orange spiced sweet potato mash (a little tart, but the orange was really different), swiss chard crispy topping dish, pickled radishes with smoky onions, and poppyseed naan bread (which I dipped in the soup). The duck was very unique, it was tender and fell right off the bone. It also had a very aromatic lavender aftertaste. The berry sauce was more tart than sweet, actually not sweet at all and sort of masked the flavor of the duck (probably just not in season), so I stopped eating the berries. Everything else was amazing though. A great combination of flavors and you really stop and enjoy your meal when you have smaller dishes and portions to enjoy.

My friend's spiced berkshire pork ribs with apricot spring onion relish and all of his side dishes. We were full after eating everything, but still had our "third" course to enjoy.

Emi went with the exotic chocolate chili ice cream with dolce de leche. Not really my thing, but definitely different, you could taste the spicy chili aftertaste which was an interesting combination with the chocolate. Emi really liked it.

I went with the popular dessert of the night (said our waiter) the hazelnut coffee buttercrunch ice cream. Decadent, rich, and sweet would be the best way to describe this dessert. Not what I normally I order, but I wanted to try something different as well. With such a light flavorful meal, it was an interesting way to end dinner because of how strong the sweet flavors were. The buttercrunch topping was really good, sweet and crunchy, but not too hard like an almond rocha.

My friend ended with the staff favorite hot date cake with butterscotch and salted pecans.

A fun restaurant and my fourth Restaurant Week dinner of the year. I would have to say out of Mamma Melinna, Quinn's, Toulouse, and Poppy, Poppy was by far my favorite. I always enjoy Restaurant Week because it incents Emi and me to try some new places and Seattle really does have a lot of great restaurants to offer.

Since we were already stuffed, what did we do next? Went out to get more food. We had to check out Brave Horse the new Tom Douglas gastropub in South Lake Union, which is located next to Ting Momo. It was a fun spot, with great beers on tap, and special hand made pretzels, with a wide variety of sides. We went with the peanut butter, smoked bacon, and honey. Amazing. I can't wait to go back to try out some of their other options.

Where were some of your favorite Restaurant Week meals?

- Kyle

It's a Celebration B*^@! - Restaurant Week at Toulouse Petit Kitchen & Lounge

I recently accepted an offer for an amazing new job. Emi and I are both very excited about the new opportunity and can't wait to see what the future holds. To celebrate the big occasion and to thank our parents for their continued support we wanted to take them out to dinner for Restaurant Week.

We decided to try out Toulouse Petit Kitchen and Lounge at the base of Queen Anne, next to Peso's. We had never been to Toulouse before, but wanted to try something different. Toulouse is a French/Creole themed restaurant.

Most of our group started off with the Cauliflower soup with Dungeness crab. You could also smell and taste the added truffle oil. I wasn't able to try the soup because of the crab, but it smelled decadent.

I instead started with the True French Onion Soup Lyonnaise. It was a rich beef stock, gruyere, crouton, and onion confit.

For the main course, Emi went with the Oven Roasted Duck Confit over Brussel Sprouts and house made tasso. The duck was great and the toasted shallots really added to the dish. We both agreed that toasted shallots would be good with anything. Unfortunately the Brussel Sprouts were a little tough and sour. Being big fans of Brussel Sprouts we were sort of disappointed.

My main course was the Gulf Shrimp, Crawfish, and Housemade Andouille over Creamy Corn Grits. Amazing, hands down the best thing I ate that night. After visiting North Carolina this past Fall for a wedding, I have fallen in love with shrimp and grits. Amazing combination and again they did a great job with their spin on this dish. The shrimp and home made sausage were both very flavorful; spicy and smokey and great with the creamy grits. Also the crawfish was good too, like little nuggets of crustacean goodness. I wasn't sure at first what was the crawfish because they serve them peeled, but after finding the little guys, they were hard to miss with the great flavor.

My dad went with the yellow eye snapper in creole court bouillon with gulf shrimp, mussels, and manila clams. Sort of like a Creole cioppino.

For dessert I had the Granny Smith Apple Cobbler. Unfortunately for everyone else this is where the meal sort of went downhill. My cobbler was good, but the white chocolate bread pudding was sort of blah and my Dad mentioned really rummy.

Emi's side of the family went with the beignets. We were expecting fluffy, flaky, melt in your mouth beignets, but were disappointed with the burnt looking and doughy variety. Emi's mom even mentioned to the waitress that they may have been burnt. She assured us that they weren't, it's just that they don't change their oil that often so that's why they turn that color and they were meant to be dense.... OK thanks for the explanation, so in a round about way she just told us to never order these again.

Sort of a crappy way to end our meal and the waitress definitely didn't help make our experience more enjoyable, but all in all it was a cool new restaurant with some highlights to the meal. Just avoid dessert. Next time we have something to celebrate and I decided to drop that much on dinner, we'll probably go to a tried and true type of place. They did advertise throughout the restaurant and online that they have one of the best happy hours in the nation. I may have to go test out that claim sometime. So if anyone is ever down for HH at Toulouse let me know!

- Kyle

Tartine Bakery - Pastries to Die For

Even though we spent a full week eating in Singapore and were also pretty jet lagged, we had to make a pilgrimage to Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. We went the morning before flying back home to Seattle. We were almost late for our flight because of this meal, but it was definitely worth it.

The line starts early on Sunday mornings and the SF hipsters didn't even mind the rain, that's how good these pastries were.

Look at all those glistening pastries, they probably go through a ton of butter every weekend. The story is that Oprah loves Tartine and whatever Oprah touches turns to gold. I have to admit that woman has good taste in food because I love this place.

What makes any pastry better, a solid mocha, I'm a black coffee type of guy, but Emi likes to sweeten her caffeine.

Double pain au chocolat and the world famous Morning Bun! The pain au chocolat, flaked and melted the chocolaty goodness into my mouth. Messy, buttery, and delicious, soo good, but nothing compared to the morning bun. The morning bun is caramelized with orange cinnamon sugar and is my definition of the perfect pastry. Not too rich, a perfect crust of chewy sugar, with the perfect blend of the orange and cinnamon in the sugar, and it was literally one of the best things ever. You just have to try it. We also brought back an eclair for my parents and a lemon cream tart. Both were amazing as well and held up on the flight back to Seattle.

We were pretty full, but also splurged on the Croque Monsieur, open face sandwich with bechamel gruyere, thyme and pepper. Topped with smoked Niman Ranch ham and I remember sun dried tomatoes as well. On their homemade bread, it was another amazing treat to add to the meal.

If you find yourself in SF and even if you have to plan a quick flight down there just to check out Tartine please do. Word of caution, it gets packed, so expect to wait in line, but you'll get through it, just don't expect somewhere to sit.

- Kyle

Trattoria Pinocchio

Having just landed in San Francisco after our gluttonous trip through Singapore, what was the first thing we decided to do? Well eat of course and if you didn't guess that, you are probably visiting this blog for the first time.

Since it was around 9pm we weren't sure where to go, but ultimately decided on Little Italy. The first place we found we went into and the food was great. Not uncommon in San Francisco, I wouldn't recommend the same strategy in Seattle though. The place we decided on was Trattoria Pinocchio and it was a first for Emi and myself.

Emi ordered the Raviolli di Vitello - house made veal ravioli with sweet cream, butter and fresh sage leaves. Honestly you can't go wrong with house made pasta. Usually the simpler the sauce the better and in this case definitely true.

My friend ordered the Portobello alla Griglia - fresh grilled portobello mushrooms with sun dried sauteed tomatoes on a bed of arugula with shaved parmigiano and pine nuts.

I went with the traditional Spaghetti alla Bolognese - veal and beef ragu sauce. Not sure why, but recently I have been magnetically drawn to bolognese. I can't get enough of it and after dishes like this one, I just want more.

It was fun to be welcomed back to the States with an amazing meal in San Francisco. We have been eating a lot more Italian food as of late since we're prepping for our Mediterranean cruise this summer.

Where are some of your favorite Italian restaurants?

- Kyle