Blackbird Cafe & Week Menu

Matt loves breakfast out on the weekends. We are funny about breakfast out & become creatures of habit going to the same place over & over again. Our current favorite is right here in our Southwest Minneapolis neighborhood, Blackbird Cafe. Blackbird is one of those great neighborhood places, it's small, friendly, a little quirky & best of all it has an amazing menu. We love their dinner & lunch menus (oh, that Banh Mi!) but their breakfast menu & creative daily specials have quickly become our favorite. Their classic breakfast is wonderful with thick cut toast & tasty sausage or thick-cut bacon. Matt is a fan of the Huevos Colleen O'Brien, basically Huevos Ranchero with housemade chorizo & avocado. But they have really helped me step out of my egg & toast rut with some amazing specials.

A couple weeks ago it was Lobster Scramble with Bacon Grits. I could eat those eggs everyday, light fluffy & full of lobster.

Yesterday is was Duck Confit & Pomegranate Pancakes topped with Herb Butter. I know this one sounds a little weird but take the saltiness of the, the tartness of the pomegranate & top it with some sweet maple syrup, heavenly! And somehow the pancakes still managed to stay fluffy. They also have their own roast of coffee which is a wonderful pick-me-up. We plan on buying some beans from them to enjoy at home soon.

Blackbird is open for breakfast on Saturdays & Sundays. They don't take reservations & can get a little busy later in the morning. We find when we get their between 8:30 & 9:30 we never have to wait.

On to Menu Planning Monday...

Tortilla Soup - from Rick Bayless

Pot Roast

Ad Hoc Chicken & Dumpling Soup

Beef Soup or Chili

Salmon with Mustard Crumb Crust - from Stacey Snacks

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted.
© 2007-2010 Kathy Lewinski

Valentine's Dinner At Home

Valentine's Day is just a week away & for a lot of us that means a dinner for two. Matt & I have typically gone out on Valentine's but decided this year to stay home. Often the restaurants are completely booked so you're dealing with a rushed staff & a crowded restaurant. Plus many times you a paying a premium for eating out on this holiday.

We thought many of you are probably in the same mood this year so we wanted to offer up some ideas for recipes for special meals. Since we are typically cooking just for two most of these recipes are already sized down for you.

Valentine's Day is on a Sunday this year so why not treat your sweetie to a special breakfast...

Bacon & Egg Bread Pudding
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
Apple Waffles

Most of these dinner for two ideas look & taste really special but are a cinch to make.

Bacon Wrapped Beef Tenderloin with Creamed Leeks & Greens
Miso Glazed Salmon
Pan Seared Duck Breast
Lamb with Balsamic Sauce
Prosciutto Wrapped Pork Tenderloin with Apples & Brussels Sprouts
Sweet Potato Ravioli & Spinach in Cream Sauce
Espresso Glazed Steak
Steak Diane with Potato & Onion Gratins
Seafood Stew

What Valentine's Day is complete without something sweet?

Chocolate Mousse for Two
Dobos Torte
Red Hot Brownies
Chocolate Valentino
Drunken Strawberry Shortcakes with Coffee Whipped Cream

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted.
© 2007-2010 Kathy Lewinski

Warm Lentil Salad

When we were in San Francisco for the Foodbuzz Festival in November one of the things Matt picked up at the Ferry Building was Lentils du Puy. This salad was the reason.

We've had this for dinner twice in two weeks now, it is just so good. There is something about the way the runny egg yolk tastes mixed in with the mustard vinaigrette that we just love. We added some duck confit to it this time because we had it & it seemed like a good fit. It definitely added another wonderful layer of flavor but you don't have to have it to enjoy this dish.

Add a fresh green salad, a glass of wine & you have a wonderful light dinner that is completely satisfying.

Warm Lentil Salad

4 oz lentils de puy
1 T olive oil
2 carrots, peeled & chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 leek, white & light green parts chopped
pinch dried thyme
salt & pepper
duck confit, meat from one leg & thigh (optional)
2 T champagne vinegar
2 T olive oil
1 T dijon mustard
2 eggs

Put enough water in a saucepan to cover the lentils by at least 1/2 inch & bring to a boil. Add lentils. Reduce heat, cover & simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain.

In a skillet heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery, leeks & thyme. Season with salt & peppers. Sauté until the carrots are tender about 10 minutes. Remove from the skillet & set aside.

Return the lentils to the saucepan they were cooked in. Add the vegetables & duck to the lentils. Mix the champagne vinegar, olive oil, and mustard together. Stir into the lentils coat. Cover to keep warm while cooking eggs.

Fry the eggs sunnyside up (leaving part of the yolk runny). Divide the lentils between two dishes & top each with an egg.

2 servings

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted.
© 2007-2010 Kathy Lewinski

A Steaming Bowl of Pho

Matt is a big fan of Pho & after having a big bowl of it at Ngon two weeks ago he decided we should try making our own at home for lunches.

There are a ton of different recipes for pho broth out there using all different kinds of meat to flavor it. We decided to go with oxtail because that is what Ngon uses & because we noticed the grocery store had some. It made for quite a fatty broth but it was easy to remove the fat once the broth had chilled. I'm not sure how different the flavor was using oxtail as compared to say some meaty beef bones. It seemed to me most of the flavor came from the other things simmered in the broth, anise, fennel, ginger, etc... We have a lot of beef soup bones in the freezer so next time I'll skip the cost of the oxtail & try them.

Oxtail Broth for Pho

(adapted from Serious Eats)

1 1/2 t peanut oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced
2 1/2 lbs oxtail
4 quarts water
1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
small knob of fresh ginger, peeled & sliced
1 cinnamon stick
seeds from 3 cardamon pods
1 star anise
2 whole cloves
1 t fennel seeds
2 garlic cloves, crushed with the skin on
1 t black peppercorns
fish sauce

In a large stock pot heat the oil over high heat. Add the onions & cook until the are turning brown. Remove the onions & set aside. Add the oxtail & water to the pot & bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer & let cook for 15 minutes. Skim foam from the surface. Add the cooked onions & all other ingredients EXCEPT the fish sauce. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer & partially cover. Let cook for 6 hours, skimming any foam from the surface. Strain the soup through a strainer covered with cheesecloth. (Try not to put the bones in the strainer as straining through them will give you a cloudy stock.) Refrigerate until the layer of fat on top is solid. Remove the fat before using.

Makes about 8 cups.

When you are ready to serve the Pho, reheat the amount if broth needed (about 1 1/2 cups per serving) & season it with 1 teaspoon of fish sauce per serving & some fresh ground pepper.

Then comes the fun part adding all the vegetables meat & noodles. You can really add what you like but traditionally it is served with a meat (we used thinly sliced flank steak cooked quickly in the boiling broth), cooked rice noodles, fresh chili peppers (we used a jalapeno), bean sprouts, onions or scallions, basil (which Matt says is really important), cilantro, fresh lime juice, hoisin sauce & sriracha. thinly sliced flank steak which cooked quickly in the boiling broth.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted.
© 2007-2010 Kathy Lewinski

Ad Hoc Duck Confit and Duck Confit Pizza

I have a confession to make, I love duck confit. (Seriously, I might like it as much, if not more, than bacon!) If it's on a menu I can't resist ordering it. So, one of my kitchen resolutions for this year was to make it at home. This fits perfectly with our goal to cook our way through Ad Hoc at Home since it contains a recipe for it.

Last week we made the Ad Hoc Pan Seared Duck Breast leaving us with the legs & thighs from our Peking Duck. We reserved all the fat from cooking the breasts & then I rendered the rest of the fat we got from butchering the duck. (I have to say it would have been helpful if Ad Hoc at Home actually explained how to render the fat, I ended up searching out instructions online.) Next I made an herb salt from kosher salt, brown sugar, a bay leaf, peppercorns, fresh thyme & parsley. The duck got rubbed with the salt (about 1 tablespoon per leg) & then sat in the fridge overnight to cure.

The next day I rinsed & dried the duck then fit it into the smallest baking dish I could. The duck then gets covered in the rendered fat. Here's where I ran into a problem, I didn't have enough fat from the one duck to cover the legs. According to our charcuterie book lard was a fine substitute & I just happened to have some on hand. I sealed the baking dish with some tin foil since it didn't have a lid and put the whole thing in the oven where it slowly cooked at 190 F for 8 hours.

At this point the duck is tender but doesn't fall off the bone when I take a fork to it. I put the duck into a plastic container & strained the fat over it leaving any of the duck juiced behind.

Then we let it sit in the fridge for a couple of days which apparently improves the flavor. At this point you can serve it by pan searing the confit skin-side down in a little of the fat until brown & crispy & then just heating through in the oven. This is what is suggested in Ad Hoc.

We decided to use one of the legs & thighs on a pizza similar to the one I had on our first anniversary. We kept this pizza really simple to showcase the salty, tender duck. We started with a whole wheat pizza crust (just our favorite pizza crust substituting 1/3 of the flour with whole wheat flour.) with a little garlic in it. That we topped with 3 ounces of fontina cheese, one sliced leek, the confit, fleur de sel, freshly ground pepper & a drizzle of olive. Let it cook for 15 minutes at 450 F. A pizza that is simply delicious!

Sure duck confit is a little time consuming to make but most of the time is hands off & the end result was worth it!

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted.
© 2007-2010 Kathy Lewinski