use real butter

Recipe: volcano roll sushi

My parents arrived in Boulder over the weekend. Back in September, when I learned that they were going to spend Thanksgiving week in Las Vegas, I asked them why on earth they weren’t coming to Boulder if they were already out west? I’ve only been through Vegas a couple of times, to fill gas and keep driving. Apparently they like Vegas. But they also like me, so they have a long layover in Colorado to visit and see what it’s like in non-summer here. My parents are not winter folk (I know, how did I fall so far from the tree?) and luckily for them – sadly for me, it’s hardly acting like winter around here. However, my parents do love a good party…

i can throw a party

I got their place set up for a little wine and cheese action before they arrived. My dad is all about having a plan, especially when someone else is implementing it. He is also a huge fan of drinking good wine with good people. Check and check. Jeremy was worried that they would be tired from traveling and was I sure they wanted to host a party at their place? Mom and Dad host parties like a boss. They walked into their condo, unpacked, got prettied up, tidied the place, sampled the food I was preparing, then greeted and charmed all of my friends as they arrived. It was a super fun evening and everyone had a grand time. Most importantly, my folks had fun.

My friend, Shirley, saw a picture of the food on Facebook and asked what I served, so here’s the rundown:

crudités and spinach dip
sweet onion dip and crostini
duck prosciutto, tartufo (truffle) salami, finocchietto (fennel) salami, chorizo
brie and tomato jam
manchego and membrillo
gorgonzola dulce, candied walnuts, fresh figs, and honey
pecorino
castelvetrano olives
assorted crackers and sliced baguette
ginger lemon cookies


the spread

nibbly deliciousness

and a faboo sunset from the balcony to kick it all off!

Did I mention that I know nothing about cheeses? Because I don’t. I don’t eat cheese unless it is part of a recipe, but it was fun harassing the cheese experts around town to help me select and plan my menu. Now sushi is another story altogether. I know a little something about sushi. I know that I love that sushi in my belly… We had leftover crab from Thanksgiving – or rather, I saved a crab leg from our Thanksgiving dinner to make this sushi roll I had while I was on the road, from a grocery store, in middle-of-nowhere Colorado. Risky, I know, but it was awesome for grocery store sushi and the little lady preparing it was a total darling. Besides, I am drawn to foods with geologic names.

sushi rice (raw), mayonnaise, wasabi, maguro (sashimi-grade tuna), king crab, avocado, cucumber, masago (flying fish roe), nori, and sriracha

peel the crab, chop the tuna

mix the spicy tuna (tuna, mayonnaise, and sriracha)

mix the crab salad (cooked crab meat and mayonnaise)

A lot of things that are obvious to me may not be obvious for people who don’t eat sushi, don’t prepare sushi, or don’t know how to cook. So let’s be clear: only use sashimi-grade tuna from a reputable and trusted source. Why sashimi-grade as opposed to random slab of raw tuna? Because sashimi-grade has been inspected and also frozen to a temperature low-enough to kill any parasites. If this makes you squeamish and uncomfortable, don’t make this roll. Also, the crab is never raw. We use cooked crab. In fact, I don’t know where I can source uncooked king crab legs. If your search fails to come up with crab meat, then you can always use surimi or fake crab or krab or as we pronounce it in the House of Butter, kay-rab.

mix the wasabi mayonniase

then mix the sriracha mayonnaise

greenish and orangish

long and thin slices for making maki

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: patty melt (animal style)

Time to fess up – I’m not doing traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I haven’t done one in several years. We voted turkey OUT and seafood IN. Sea critters cook faster, taste better (to us), and I don’t become stuffed, sleepy, and belligerent. Winning! Are you having a traditional meal or are you doing something different?

I wish I could say I’m going to be skiing, but I think I’m going to be trail running and biking instead – because we don’t have much snow locally. Sure, our local hill has the White Strip of Death (the single run that goes top to bottom on the mountain), but it’s not especially appealing now… or ever. However, I was able to enjoy snow in Crested Butte this weekend, because we had some business out there. On Saturday, we were greeted with week-old snow on the ground under blue skies. Kaweah was eager to get out for a walkie even though she can’t walk very far any more. We stopped in a field and I told her to sit for a photo. Kaweah sat, then slid into a comfy lounging position. She was tired, but happy. Sunday morning brought fresh snow and once again, we got Kaweah outside for a short walk around town. I swear, snow makes everything awesome.

this car ride leads to a trailhead, right?

enjoying the snow with mount crested butte looming large

my happy girl

fresh snow sunday morning

We’re home now, looking forward to a mellow week of house maintenance, catching up on work, and quick meals. From time to time, my friends at Lava Lake Lamb like to send along some of their beautiful products for me to prepare and sample (rack of lamb, rosemary lamb noisettes, and braised lamb shanks). This time, they mentioned they are partnering with 100% grass-fed Brandon Natural Beef from the Wet Mountain Valley of Colorado. Lava Lake Lamb is good lamb from Idaho, but I wanted to give Colorado some lovin’. I received a 12 ounce Rib Eye steak, a 12 ounce New York Strip steak, and two 16 ounce packages of ground beef (80% lean) to try with no obligation on my part. After Jeremy and I had the steaks (grilled rare), I was so impressed with the tenderness, quality, and flavor, I was excited to try something with the ground beef.

the beef arrived frozen, so i let it thaw slowly in the refrigerator

I really feel the best way to let ground beef shine is in a burger, grilled. Oh, but I’ve posted many a burger here before. As I muttered to myself over the many variations on burgers that exist, Jeremy interrupted and asked me what a patty melt was. Silence. “You don’t know what a patty melt is?” He had a vague idea, but really… he didn’t. That’s partly my fault because I hadn’t had a patty melt since college much less made one. It’s the marriage of a hamburger and a grilled cheese sandwich, but I wasn’t going to make just any patty melt.

crusty sourdough, mustard, salt, pepper, fish sauce, onions, swiss cheese, ground beef

When I say “animal style”, what do you think of? If your mouth is starting to water, then we speak the same language – the language of In-N-Out Burger. If you don’t get it, that’s fine. You don’t get it. If you tell me that you can make a better burger at home, my response is “Duh!” and yeah, you still don’t get it. But for the rest of you lovers, I figured I could snazzy up the patty melt with a little riff on an animal style burger which in this instance means: mustard and caramelized onions.

thinly sliced onions

browned after about 20 minutes

First you want to caramelize the onions, because that’s the big time sink. No matter how much you try to rush the process, you can’t. Whenever I rush it, I burn the onions. So set the heat to medium and brown the onions in some oil slowly for at least 20 minutes. Stir it about every now and again to prevent burning. If you’re a multi-tasker, go ahead and mix the beef while the onions soften and brown.

the dash of fish sauce = magic

don’t laugh, i made the patties the shape of my bread

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: spinach artichoke cream cheese

They said it was going to snow this weekend, and it did. But between the sun and the 60 mph winds, we’ve got nada on the ground here. We are headed for single digits tonight (in °F) and the wind chill is well below zero. That would explain Kaweah’s lack of the usual dawdling when we turn around to go back home during her walk (but she still loves her walks). It also means that I have been a baking fool for the past few days, filling the house with the warm scent of fall spices, roasted vegetables, and hot soups. I’m still waiting for proper winter (read: snow), but in the meantime…

we have had a string of brilliant sunrises and sunsets the past week

lunch with jeremy at pica’s (wet burritos: carne asada and pork adobado)

hoarding the best duck prosciutto

That last shot is of four duck breast prosciutto from Il Mondo Vecchio in Denver, which is closing its doors at the end of this month (November 30, 2012). I’m heartbroken and upset about the closure because I love this small local business and their quality products. I’ve ventured down to their Denver loading dock before, but then Cured (in Boulder) began to carry Il Mondo Vecchio’s salumi such that I could gift duck breast prosciutto to a deserving hostess from time to time.

I don’t get to Denver very often (this is voluntary) and I know I am missing out on some great eats and treats in the city, but I do hear about great places from my local pals. Back in the spring, when my friend Kathya came to visit with me, she brought me bagels and cream cheese from Hi*Rise in Denver. The bagels were good, but the cream cheese was absolutely lovely – spinach and artichoke. When I had polished off the last of the spinach and artichoke cream cheese, I thought to myself, “I need to get in on that action.”

spinach, artichoke hearts, lemon, salt, cream cheese

chop the artichokes

You can use frozen spinach if you don’t want to deal with fresh spinach. I had fresh spinach on hand and rather like the idea of knowing exactly what is in it. It’s a quick blanch in boiling water, then drain it and squeeze it out just like you would frozen spinach. Chop it up and you are good to go.

blanch

drain

chop

**Jump for more butter**