CHEZ CHLOE

Back on track....

So here we go again... and now again after I somehow accidentally deleted everything I worked on the last 3 days. Oh the learning curve is fun. (finger down throat...gag). Really it was quite frustrating. It's all those DIY tutorials. And messing around with the FTP and the php etc etc..

So meet me over at chezchloe.com minus the typepad. 

See you soon - wendy

One month today

Here's the first real recipe we made in Hamburg..........And the recipe was from Ollie's sister and this photo was actually the cake made by Ollie's niece. Yum!

Russischer Zupfkuchen

It’s called a Russian cake, but really it’s a traditional German recipe. It’s a rich cheesecake that has a crumbly, chocolate crust that is also dotted over the top of it.

Directly translated the name means: "Russian Plucking Cake". In this case you pluck the cocoa dough in little pieces and sprinkle it onto the top of the cake. 

See below for recipe.

Chloe also did a presentation of how to make this cake at school!

And so.....

We landed in Hamburg Jan 4, greeted by an enormous amount of snow that has ebbed and flowed but continued to linger with vigilance. It brings a quiet, graceful beauty that I can appreciate most of the time but after a solid month I am about ready to see it melt once and for all.

Although there is a lot of English spoken in here, I am anxious to be able to communicate with people in German. And trust me, not everybody speaks English. I've started classes and am up to hello, how are you, I'm from the USA. So it may be a while before I'm having a conversation but I have a lot of motivation and remind myself I learned French from scratch and can do it again. 

So far my work ideas are writing to Sur La Table and seeing if they would like to move into the European market and writing a German/English culinary dictionary.

RECIPE:

 For the dough:

300 g flour

180 g sugar

 200g butter at room temperature

 2 eggs

40 g cocoa powder (not the instant sweet schocolat for drinks etc.)

1 packet baking powder

 For the filling you need:

150 g sugar

70g butter at room temperature

3 eggs

500g Quark

200 g sweet cream (if unsweetened add 45g powdered sugar)

1 packet vanilla sugar

 a little pinch of salt

 First mix the flour with the baking powder then add sugar and cocoa. Make a well and add soft butter and eggs. Knead until you get a nice chocolat-dough.

  *Put 1/4 of it aside,

  *Put the rest in a round springformg pan and form a pretty high edge.

 For the filling :

Beat the sugar and butter till light. Add the eggs one at a time beating 1 min after each. Then add quark, cream and vanilla sugar and salt. Beat all ingredients till mixed and pour on the dough

 Finally pull the other piece of dough into small parts and spread it over the filling.

 Bake in the oven at about 180 C for an hour. Cover for 1st half of cooking with foil. Good luck!

New country new direction

Update from Chez Chloe …. The lady who loves France is living in Germany………and loving it! I have closed up the retail store and moved to Hamburg Germany. Why might you ask? Well I am not reinventing the wheel I just fell in love. And nare I say just….. An old friend from 15 years ago came for a spontaneous visit to Orcas and after 3 weeks we both had new directions that were about to collide.

And on this note these entries may not come with more frequency but they will most likely continue on a more personal note than previously. I decided not to start something entirely new as once you close a blog you lose your text and let's face it, it is a chronicled journey........and after this many years it's an investment!

Before I get started, we packed up the house again last August and left Orcas island for a four month stay in England- and I will say no more on that except it too was a lovely experience. Beautiful countryside in the southeast, time in London and a few shows and historic Bath. I found this area in the south showing a true respect for local, sustainable good food. 

 And this was our last local meal on Orcas with all the vegetables from the garden and meat from Lopez. All simply grilled and gorgeous. Once again our new digs didn't come with a big garden but fortunately local markets abound on a very regular basis. And there's green space for some bits.

And one last shot of my kitchen till further notice....

  

Eating by candle light... alone?

Once again driving home I thought about what's for dinner. Pour Chloe gets so tired of hearing about what I want to eat, cook or try. This conversation was with me, myself and I.
I stopped at the farmer's market this morning and picked up some green onions, small, tender green beans, a blushed head of bibb lettuce, rose finn potatoes, shitake mushrooms and blueberries. This is when the conversation actually began and continued through the day when I had a moment to myself. After work, I picked up a couple of bone in pork ribs, garlic sourdough bread and a jar of oysters. In the car I was thinking about the plums on the property finally ripening and how easy galettes really are to make.

I walked in the door thinking about the order of my evening meal. As I was starved I thought I better start with a very small bowl of potato chips. Here's where it went from there......

Cooking Solo- Grilled steak sandwich

Hey it's Tuesday et je suis toute seule. Except for my photographer who dropped in.
Steak sandwich with balsamic peppercorn glaze and garlic mayo .

Rhubarb anyone? Scones & Crepes

Just a quickie on how lovely rhubarb can be. I find it's feast or famine for me with this fruit, much as it is with
summer squash. I've had far more than I can handle in past years but now seem to have none. I did find a survivor in my orchard that I transplanted and hope to bring back to production with a little TLC.
Here's what I did with it..... rhubarb ginger scones and crepes......

Cooking solo- Salmon dinner

Seared Salmon with cider bbq glaze, aspargus and shitakes, cucumbers....

Eating by yourself is a task in it self at times. Unless it's chewing while you work, clean, read or space out with some anonymous item being transferred orally from mouth to hand. Cooking for yourself is the hurdle to jump. I definitely have to be in the mood. Friday nights I'm often found deciding on real ice cream or something with a little less fat for dinner- like Stoneyfield's lowfat frozen yogurt, Dulce de Leche. This is often followed by pop corn with butter and maybe a little flax oil cut in to make me feel healthy- and a little nutritional yeast. But yesterday morning before leaving the house for the day, I pulled from the freezer a filet of wild salmon. Two days ago, I had company and grilled chicken in a cider bbq marinade, grilled asparagus and threw together strawberry rhubarb crisps . Having company now and then can be helpful in cooking for yourself as entertaining often yields leftovers and provides a good base from which to start. Driving home from work I decided to cook as it's only Tuesday and two nights of ice cream and popcorn is a bit much (for me). Here's what I did in about 20 minutes.....and I'm worth it! Oh how cliché......

And lest we forget my guest....

Happy Birthday Kathleen

The class this week was given to Kathleen as a birthday present from her husband. Kathleen brought her sister-in-law, Diane to partake in the celebration. Kathleen is an avid cook which brought on a little pressure to impart some new information and advice. We packed in a LOT! We forwent our sit down meal at the end in exchange for more time at the stove.
This day we managed to prepare: Buttermilk scones with candied ginger. A rosemary lemon fougasse. Bourride with monkfish*. Cherry balsamic glazed pork tenderloin. And we revisited the fresh ginger chocolate torte.
*One note before going ahead - Here's a link to Seafood Watch. Monkfish is on the avoid list and therefore I rarely eat it despite liking it.
I've posted the Scones, Fougasse and Bourride recipes.....

DVSAS annual dinner - Italiano

A fundraiser dinner for the DVSAS (Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services) purchased by Odie and Trina. As magical a place as the San Juan Islands can be we still have a need for DVSAS and we are greatful to have their services.

Last year Springtime in Paris at Chez Chloe. One year fast forward. Fête Italiano chez moi. We once again shared a memorable evening with Odie, Trina and 10 friends. This year we dined in Olga with the impeccable service of Jen, Loren and Anita and me barking in the kitchen. And we were treated with a few trumpet tunes from Willie Thomas (my dad) The menu came from two of the River Cafe books I have listed in favorites- (Blue one and Green).....

First spring cooking class

I've had the opportunity to teach two classes in my home this month. The first being with a lovely group of women who originally wanted to lunch at Chez Chloe. I ran into Lise outside the cafe and after confessing it was just too much stress, tried to compensate with a lunch and demo Chez moi. It was a morning and afternoon of laughter, stories, good food and a little education to boot. The kind of day for which one feels guilt because it's so much fun in the middle of the week. It was mostly a demonstration with some interactive work and a lovely sit down lunch at the end.
We kept to traditional recipes and to my delight brought Lise into the "I think I like escargot circle". We followed the Escargot Bourgogne with French Onion Soup and a light salad picked from the early greens in my greenhouse. We finished with a fresh ginger and chocolate torte recipe from the River Cafe Book Green.
Here's recipes for the above mentioned........