Food Truckery on the West Coast

Signature creation at Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland

Portland is surprisingly randy. Turns out it has over 50 strip clubs, which is the most per capita in the U.S. This spills out into the food service industry as well. Below is Twin Perks Coffee, a hut in the middle of a parking lot, where coffee is served by girls in their underwear. The slogan: Twin Perks, Because She's Hot!

Rosemary and Olive Oil Focaccia Bread

Thought I'd attempt a yeast bread ... I like the flavor that this recipe yielded. It was very good to dip in (more) olive oil. Next time, I'd try a different pan to make a slightly bigger, thicker loaf so I could use it for sandwiches. I tend to have trouble motivating myself to make bread when I live within walking distance of Pittsfield Rye...

Ingredients:

4 cups white, all-purpose flour
3/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Olive oil and rosemary

Mix the yeast, sugar and warmed water and let sit to activate the yeast. Then mix the flour, salt, and the activated yeast and add a little olive oil. Knead the dough for ~6 mins and cover for two hours. Then infuse some olive oil with rosemary on the stovetop.

For two small round loaves, put oil on each baking sheet and spread the dough onto them. Then let it sit a little longer (20 mins or so) and put the infused olive oil and rosemary on top. I baked it at 450 for ~18 minutes but everyone's oven is different.

Raspberry and Cottage Cheese Muffins

I used to live next to Capone's, a fresh pasta shop in Somerville that had delicious homemade ricotta cheese. The result is that I started incorporating it into a lot of what I made at the time, including muffins. Being snowed in and nowhere near Capone's, I found cottage cheese in the refrigerator and frozen raspberries in the freezer. Not quite the same, but the result was pretty tasty anyway. I love a little savory in my baked goods.

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup wheat flour
3/4 cup white flour
3/4 rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup cottage cheese
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup butter or oil based spread, melted
3/4 cup raspberries (mine were frozen)
enough brown sugar and rolled oats to sprinkle on top

DIRECTIONS:
Mix dry ingredients in bowl. Add cottage cheese, egg and butter and mix. Add raspberries last and mix but take care not to break them apart. In greased muffin tin, fill cups 3/4 of the way full and sprinkle brown sugar and oats on top. Bake @375 for roughly 20 mins or until they pass the knife test. Let cool and serve.

French Onion Soup

Thought I'd try this with a mushroom broth base in lieu of beef stock because I heard it was a good substitute for veggie inclined people. I actually like it better. I used dry sherry because that's what was open. It's often made with white wine and even cognac. For eight cups:

• 5 medium onions, sliced (I used a mix of yellow and white)
• 2 T butter
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 T flour
• A little fresh thyme
• 1/3 cup sherry
• 32 oz mushroom broth
• sliced, toasted bread (I used a baguette I had in the freezer)
• shredded cheese (most often gruyere, but I used cheddar b/c that's what I had)

Heat butter and olive oil in a pan and add onion. Saute on low until translucent. Add a little sugar to help caramelize and let them cook on low for ~ 35 minutes. When they are a nice deep brown, add flour to help thicken. Add the sherry and stir until thick. Add fresh thyme. Slowly add mushroom broth and turn to medium heat until hot. Let simmer on low for roughly 20 minutes to let flavors combine. Toast up some baguette slices (or whatever you have) and throw that on top with the shredded cheese and bake at 425 until top is golden brown.

Zombies and Sweet Potato Fries

SWEET POTATO FRIES

Ingredients:

Sweet potato

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Dried rosemary

Cut 'em up into strips. Put them on a tray and drizzle with the olive oil. Sprinkle with rosemary and s&p and bake @ 375 for about 10 minutes. Turn them over and bake until tender and brown.

GARLIC AIOLI

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 T Olive oil

2 T Lemon juice

3 dashes hot sauce

Salt & pepper to taste

Drizzle whole cloves of garlic with olive oil and roast until soft. Put in food processor with olive oil and blend. Add mayo, lemon juice, hot sauce and s&p and blend until mixed. Adjust to taste. Serve to friends or zombies.

Mario Cleans the Carcass

This is a job for someone who is focused, detail oriented, hard-working and iron-stomached. Someone with an epithet. Someone like Mario the Barber.