Brunch is Best!

Brunch is an easy, fun, and typically less stressful entertainment opportunity for friends and family. Room temperature foods, small bites, and family style or buffet service all come together for a low stress mid-day visit. Many dishes made ahead of time and simply pulled out of the fridge at service time - champagne corks popped and poured. Juice or fun white wine blends with grapes like viognier, semillon blanc, and riesling and dark rich coffee. We started serving brunches instead of dinners for special occasions when the family was visiting - it let us all get together and navigate snowy roads in daytime, spend a few hours together, then make it home in the light of day and left the rest of the day free for all of those important day-off activities; like napping.

Brunch tables beg creativity and fun. Flowers! mix-matched champagne glasses, wine goblets, colorful table linens, foods from Italy, France, and Aunt Berdie's tamale pie all share the same space on the sideboard. Last night's pizza with a poached egg can become a new favorite (surprisingly delicious with a white Rhone blend.) The rules of engagement for Brunch are much more relaxed than for a dinner party. Conversations and bold flavors rule. Ties are certainly optional.

As you plan your next social/kitchen event - consider the very civilized approach of Brunch. Give your kitchen the chance to show off your whimsical side!

Pictured: Northwest Portland Pepperoni pizza leftovers with Basted Eggs: Use last night's pizza - trick is to get the crust crisp by heating it on top of stove in skillet - fry eggs in non-stick add a tsp. of water, top with a lid to steam finish the eggs. Serve over pizza with fresh cracked black pepper; chili flakes or sri racha to taste. Easy peasy!

Oh, The Humble Tortilla!

My little brother was allergic to gluten long,long ago, before it was fashionable. As a result the family used corn tortillas for many things including pizza crusts. In fact, I didn't know that flour tortillas existed until I was a teenager. The warm toasty smell of a tortilla being fried for hamburger tacos, or the taste of the crispy-cheesy-almost-burnt edges of a pan of enchiladas tumble me back in time to favorite growing up flavors.

So there I was watching PBS on a Saturday and Rick Bayless takes my television and myself first to the streets of Mexico city where people are making these amazing tortillas filled with all kinds of goodness, then through the magic of televsion I'm next in his home kitchen where right before my eyes he whips out tortillas, quickly, gracefully, and with an ease that immediately challenges me to do the same. So, I try it.

They are delicious. They are easy. They are infinitely more wholesome than the factory made tortillas.

To make them you can use Masa Harina (corn flour) and mix 1 cup masa with one cup water including the juice of 1/2 a lime and some salt. Mix together in a bowl, it will seem a bit on the dry side. Let it rest. Then roll it out - a golf ball's worth makes an appropriate sized tortilla. OR you can check at your local grocery and see if you have fresh masa available; ours is sold in a 2# bag and is next to the Mexican cheese in the refridgerator aisle. This is our favorite of the two. The texture and flavors of the fresh masa are just richer than the dry masa.

Possibly the coolest part of the whole process, is that you get to use a device to make them - the tortilla press. An elegant and simple tool that uses the mechanical advantage of Archemides' lever to help press out a quick stack. Bella has them for you. I put a plastic bag on each side as a no-stick liner, place the golf ball of masa in the center, give it a squeeze, open, rotate, give it a second squeeze then onto a medium hot steel pan to toast for a couple of minutes, flip until it starts to pillow on the second side. Then into a kitchen towel to steam while I work on the next one. For absolutely the best in quesadillas: after you are finished toasting your tortillas; put a sprinkling.handful of your favorite cheese on the hot toaster pan you have been using and place the tortilla directly over the top of it all - push down a bit to help melt it evenly and when it is appropriately gooey and crusty, use a spatula to peel it all up and off. Really, really good.

The Basics

When our younger son, Brian, was in the Horticulture program at BSU, he took great pride for living simply. Really simply. He rented a converted garage for $100 per month. It was cozy but had no running water. He had permission to use the decrepit house that was attached for the bathroom facilites and water.

We bought an electric wok at a thrift store and gave him our old rice cooker. That was his kitchen. After a few trips into a dumpster, he talked to the produce guys at the Coop and convinced them to leave their unwanted veggies in a box by the back door rather than toss them into the dumpster. He had a big bag of rice, a bunch of canned beans and a pretty well stocked pantry of spices and sauces from yours truly.

He rode his bike. Everywhere. He had a car that actually ran but preferred the bike. Even in the rain. This apple fell pretty far from the tree in that respect.

So, on a typical day, he would ride his bike by the Coop on his way back from schol and pick up some veggies. He would mix the veggies with rice and beans or pasta and whatever spices sounded good for that day. Brian ate pretty well. Much better than the average American in terms of health bennies. If you don't count the beer, that is. He was not deprived and got through his studies with a minimum of parental cash outflow.

The lesson, I guess, is not how to live on a dollar a day but how a basic pantry will serve you well. The best foods are not necessarily the most expensive and can provide the foundation for a rich and healthy diet.

Brian is now a farm manager at an organic farm in Portland (Hippie Capital of the World), still rides his "fixie" bike, and continues to develop his cooking skills. We could not be more proud.

Customer Service God(dess) Needed

We have had such amazing luck with our employees. Jan, Ardie, Sunnie, Odos, Debra, Amber and Kate. Not just job monkeys. All of them charming, friendly, helpful and hardworking people whom John and I also call our friends. They have raised the bar. Want to join us?
Job requirements:
* This is a long term, part time job. If you are hoping for something until you find full time employment, please do not consider us. It takes a long time to learn the inventory and practices and we really need someone who is looking to work part time for a long time.
* Customer service experience is good but a genuine desire to provide a great shopping environment is better.
* Must be able to lift 40 pounds, stand for long periods, carry boxes, reach high shelves, bend to low shelves and walk up and down stairs.
* Cash handling and light bookkeeping.
* Proficient with email, EXCEL and WORD
* Must be self-motivated. This position is often unsupervised and requires a mature, responsible and self-directed individual.
* Light housekeeping, dusting and vacuuming.
* Bella compensation starts at $9.50 per hour DOE. After training, pay increases to 10.50. Pay increases will follow with performance reviews.
Please email us with your resume/application at lisa@bellakitchen.com. No phone calls please.

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Nothing Less Than Magical...

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Black Bean Soup: 20 minutes

Venison Chili: 20 minutes

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Easy as Pie... my pastry brush!

Pastry: Magical, mysterious, tempermental, and oh so necessary for making pies! My first attempts resulted in doughs that were so delicate, so studied, so put together that they melted away to nothingness when baked - subsequently resulting in 15 years of pie baking fear. I was a long way from creating that flaky-kissed-by-an-angel experience.

Then Lee Baily came to the rescue. He has a bombproof pastry dough in his cook book "Cooking for Friends" that has been my go-to for many dishes over the last several years.

With an adjustment to the amount of sugar, the addition of nuts, the mixing of whole wheat flour, blending in of spices, this basic pie crust has been used for tarts, pies, quiches, smoked salmon savory pasties - really for whatever your pastry crust needs could be.

Basic Pastry Dough

Ingredients:

1 cup flour (i'm a big fan of using 1/2+ whole wheat - I like the rustic texture and nuttiness)

1 stick frozen butter

1-2 TBL Sugar

pinch of salt

1-3 TBL ice water

Method: Put your dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar, nuts, spices) in a food processor with the plastic dough blade , then add your frozen butter (cut into pieces) and pulse. The goal here is to get the mixture to resemble course cornmeal in texture and appearance. Don't over work. When the mixture is corn meal-like in texture you are ready to pull the dough together. turn your processor on, and add ice water a table spoon at a time until it all comes together forming a ball in in your processor. Wrap your new ball of pie crust in plastic and put it in the fridge to let the butter chill. Each ball will be enough for one crust+ a little extra.

It is that easy and quick. Pro tips: 1) Keep your butter frozen 2) use the plastic dough blade 3) let your pastry chill back up before rolling it out.

Easy as pie.

Bella Kitchen Saves Brunch - America breathes a sigh of relief!

"We aren't sure how or when it happened, but, well, the waffle iron stopped working."

A seemingly innocent weekend morning should have started like so many others with the family waking up to a leisurely brunch where Dad makes waffles, Mom reads the paper over a cup of freshly brewed French Press coffee and the kids don't come to breakfast until their rooms are tidy and the laundry put away.

But NO. As this reporter understands the story, all was poised for the perfect weekend morning when all of America's best intentions went awry with the failure of the waffle iron. Scrittchhhhh!

Bella to the Rescue: Due to the recent addition of Waring Pro and Cuisinart small appliance, proprieters Lisa and John were on the scene to witness the saving of Brunch first hand.

"Brunch is near and dear to both of our hearts." John states. " We have enjoyed some of our most treasured dining experiences and lived through some of the most challenging of hells while either going out to brunch or serving them. So, to be on hand to witness the miracle of our local family (anonymity requested) walk into the shop and say 'That's the one (waring pro wmk 300A waffle maker) dear! I knew that they would have it - Brunch is saved!' well, it really made our day."

Thanks Bella! Thanks McCall! Thanks America! Until next time: Love, chaos, and dinner!