Craving Delancey Pizza

Delancey Pizza reminds me of my first pizza I had in Check Republic at a tender age of 17. Since then the closest I came to experience similar pizza crust is a frozen Organic Three Cheese Trader Joe's pizza Made in Italy. But now I discovered Delancey - fresh pizza made with high quality ingredients to order. 


I have been to Delancey three times now. They don't take reservations for parties less than 6. Two times out of three we had to wait an hour for a table. Last time it was a warm summer night and we decided to drive to the Ballard Locks instead of waiting in front of the restaurant. We spent about 30 minutes there looking at the boats, then drove back and arrived to Delancey right on time to be seated. The place is small, busy, loud and kid friendly. Every time I have been there I saw the owner Molly. Price for a classic margherita is $12 (pictured below), lower than at Serious Pie. We also ordered spicy saliami pizza on our last trip. Most people seem to share a salad and couple pizzas.

My affair with Poppies

My favorite flower is Poppy. I love big red poppies that bloom in May-June around Seattle. They always cheer me up. I own paintings with poppies, dresses with poppy prints and take many pictures of poppies.

I also love food at Poppy, the restaurant on Capitol Hill. I have been to it at least twenty times and I never get tired of going there. I went to Poppy for my birthday this year and finally, brought a camera to take some pictures.

It was a nice warm July night and we opted to sit outside in the back where Poppy has a small herb garden. Restaurant is known for their thali - a plate with 7 or 10 small dishes that includes a soup, protein and vegetables. All cooked to perfection. The owner Jerry used to be at the Herbfarm. This time we had poached oysters, short rib beef and chicken thalis. For dessert we got couple of nutter-butters - small squares that are made with peanut butter. Just enough to satisfy that sweets craving.

Grilled Yellow Squash with Flowers

It is Farmers Market season in Seattle and this weekend we picked up some baby yellow squash with flowers attached. They are so pretty. You often see them on a menu in the restaurants this time of the year. Usually they are stuffed with ricotta or some other cheese and then deep-fried. I really did not want to deep fry them so we simply cut them in half, salted, sprayed with some grapeseed oil spray and grilled 3 minutes per side. 

We enjoyed them along with a salmon, salad and grilled peaches. Peaches were grilled the same way, except no salt.

Baking Madeleines

This weekend while wandering at Mrs. Cooks in U-Village I decided to buy a shape pan for baking madeleines. So, of course, once I got home I just had to bake them right away. I googled the recipe for madeleines and decided to go with the one on allrecipes.com, which also used only 2 eggs and not 3 like in others. I followed the recipe pretty close, except I simply mixed everything by using a hand mixer, baked madeleines for almost 20 minutes and did not use confectioners sugar. The madeleines turned out terrific - I enjoyed them with a cup of coffee.

The Independence Day Dinner

Happy Independence Day! And tonight we had an exceptional dinner. We had grilled Korean-style short ribs with parsley pesto, grilled corn and asparagus. Pictures below.

Braised Leg of Lamb with Morel, Trumpet and Shiitake Mushrooms

It has been a while since I braised lamb. I had a vision of braising a leg of lamb with variety of mushrooms. So few weekends back I did exactly that. Here is my recipe.

Ingredients:

1.5 lb of deboned leg of lamb
10 morel mushrooms
2 trumpet mushrooms
10 shiitake mushrooms
Hot water
1 large onion, half mooned
1 carrot, peeled and cubed
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
1 tablespoon of fresh finely chopped thyme and few sprigs

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Generously rub the leg of lamb with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, fresh thyme. Salt and pepper to taste. Sear in a pan on all sides. I used medium heat. Set aside.

2. In a different pan on medium heat saute mushrooms and onions with 1 tablespoon of olive oil for about 10 minutes stirring from time to time. Salt and pepper to taste.

3. In a large ovenproof pot combine mushrooms, onions, carrots, lamb and few sprigs of fresh thyme. Pour hot water, just enough to almost cover the lamb. Bring to a boil. Cover with a lid and transfer into the oven. Let braise for about 2.5-3 hours. Check after 1 hour to make sure there is enough liquid and lamb is not burning. Turn the lamb over. Amount of liquid will reduce with cooking but there should be some left. To make the sauce richer use beef stock instead of water. Serve with potatoes.

Porcini Mushrooms and Potatoes for dinner

To my great surprise my local co-op had porcinis this weekend and of course I just had to get few of them.

I cooked them as I always do in olive oil with some diced shallots for about 30 minutes. I also steamed some yukon gold potatoes. The meal came out very "home-like" potatoes with mushrooms served with sour cream and fresh dill.