use real butter

Technique: avocado slices

Spring did not forsake us! We started the vernal equinox in Vail with 11°F and light snow at the base of the mountain. There was even some powder to be had. Praise be.

jeremy is thrilled to find freshies

frosted trees

I was thankful for the cooler temperatures (which are actually NORMAL this time of year) not just for the skiing, but because I needed to keep the house cool while I did a chocolate shoot this week. One of the marshmallow-filled chocolate bears sprung a leak due to my elevation and some marshmallow began to ooze out of its head, which gave me an idea…

cue the law and order clang

The windows were opened to let the 20 degree coolness drift through my work area. Kaweah observed my shenanigans from the warmth of her blankie, making the occasional rounds and sniffing all of the tables piled with chocolate and other edible props. At the end of the day, we admired the last rays of light from the deck. Actually, I admired the last rays of light and Kaweah watched all of the foxes on their evening commute through our yard.

lazy day for one of us

the end of another day in paradise

Now, I rarely do requests on urb because I’m not made of spare time. However, my last post on the California roll burger sparked interest regarding how I sliced the avocado. It’s a technique worth sharing. I’ve been to a bar maybe twice in my life, but I’ve been to a sushi bar about a gazillion times. I prefer to sit at the bar, talk with the sushi chef(s), and watch how they prepare sushi – including how they slice avocados to make caterpillar or dragon rolls.

an avocado, a santoku knife, and a ceramic knife

slice the avocado in half

twist the halves in opposite directions

First start with a ripe avocado, because underripe avocados are gross. It shouldn’t be mushy, it should just yield under the slight pressure of your finger. [If you are trying to ripen an avocado quickly, your best bet is to plop it into a paper bag with a couple of oranges, roll the bag shut, and let it sit on the counter for a day.] Hold the avocado in your hand and cut it in half lengthwise, running the blade around the pit without cutting through the pit. Set the knife down, cup your palms around the avocado halves and twist them in opposite directions.

sink the heel of the knife into the pit

twist the pit loose

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: california roll burger

You can’t fight the weather. The best thing you can do is roll with it. That’s what I’ve been telling myself anyway. Now that the crud in my chest is clearing and I no longer sound like Kathleen Turner, we’ve been getting outside to assess the snowpack. Total spring conditions: ice in the morning, corn snow in the afternoon. We noticed over the weekend that our front yard aspens are already forming buds a month early.

still getting nice color in the mornings and evenings

walking on hardpack

The spring equinox is a day away and all of this increased daylight prompts me to think of spring and summer cooking. Normally we’d be shoveling a few feet of Rocky Mountain powder from the driveway, but it looks like spring has come early for Colorado. My friends in Southern California, however, are always in perpetual spring-summer. Allison posted a photo of a California roll burger on her Facebook page a few weeks ago and I haven’t been able to shake the idea since. A little Google action brought me to 26 Beach Restaurant’s California burger roll. Oh. My. Freaking. Goodness.

a lot of components, but totally worth the trouble

It’s pretty much what you’d guess it to be – a hamburger with the components of the revered fusion California roll. How could this not be amazing? Throughout the week, my mind would wander to the California roll burger. What would I put on mine? It’s heavy enough with the beef patty and the bun, so I opted out of adding sushi rice. In addition to the traditional lettuce and tomato, I figured there would be crab salad, avocado, masago (capelin roe), pickled ginger (gari), toasted seaweed (nori), and wasabi mayonnaise. Instead of our standard potato roll buns, I picked up some challah rolls. And if we were going to do this right, why not some shredded king crab legs for the salad? You could use krab (surimi), but I find real crab to be beyond awesome.

shelling the crab

mix mayonnaise with shredded crab meat

make the wasabi mayonniase: stir some wasabi powder into the mayo

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: parsnip chowder

From the moment we entered the month of March, life got busier. It wasn’t unexpected because I could see the colored tags that flooded my calendar starting in March into April through… November. It’s all good in my book. We kicked it off with a special 15th anniversary dinner at Frasca. I think Frasca is Jeremy’s favorite restaurant. In fact, I know it is. From the moment I placed the reservation, he could not shut up about going there for dinner. It was phenomenal, just like every other time we’ve been there.

appetizer sampler: cured meats, grissini, frico caldo, batter-fried shrimp

tortelloni: agribosco borlotti bean and house-made mortadella

maine sea scallops, caviar, cauliflower, meyer lemon

torta di cioccolato: chocolate cake, passionfruit caramel buttercream, mac nuts, dark chocolate gelato

sfogliata: puff pastry, brown butter-hazelnut frangipane, banana, hazelnut crumble, custard gelato

I think March also stands for Maintenance because we’re doing a lot of that with the cars, the house, our outdoor gear, my photo equipment, finances, the dog, and well… everything. Perhaps it’s that spring cleaning thing? And speaking of spring, some of my friends in other parts of the country have started talking about the arrival of strawberries. We here in Colorado are months off from strawberries. For me, spring is merely a sunnier, warmer, corn-snowier, cheery version of the winter ski season. Soup is still on the menu.

so are parsnips

potatoes, parsnips, onion, parsley, milk, half and half, butter, bacon

peeled parsnips, washed potatoes and parsley

We always forget how much we love parsnips until we taste that sweet, earthy spice of this root vegetable. It looks like a white carrot with exaggerated proportions. They are cousins. I willingly eat the hell out of both. So this recipe for parsnip chowder appealed to me when I was looking to change up our soup rotation. A big pot of soup lasts for several days around here.

diced: parsnips, potatoes, onions

oh, did i mention there is bacon?

**Jump for more butter**