Morning Walk, Park II: Historic Lower Highlands (and Some Italian Sweets)

This is becoming a great ritual: an early to mid-morning walk through one of Denver's neighborhoods, followed by some local eats. I firmly believe that the best way to explore a city is to visit one neighborhood at a time and then spend an hour or two on foot, checking things out. So many details get lost from a car window.

Today's plan was to walk around the Platte River neighborhood, but I kind of got lost en route.  I found the Riverfront Park area, but couldn't seem to find the shops that I wanted to check out on Pearl Street; I quickly realized that I was in the wrong place. Instead I stumbled onto the Flour Mill Lofts, an amazing building that was converted from an old flour mill into an urban residential building. (I'm a big fan of converting defunct existing structures into living spaces.) Then I passed the Denver Skateboard Park. A few minutes later I somehow wound up on a little bridge that took me up to Speer Boulevard, a major thoroughfare in the city.  Before I knew it I had crossed the river and was back in the Highlands-- where I live, but in a part of the Highlands nicknamed LoHi (Lower Highlands) where I haven't really explored.  The sun was shining and the weather was gorgeous.  Not wanting to waste more time, I decided to unload the troops and walk around.

  

There's great historic architecture in Denver, which is something I hadn't expected (I'm not sure why). There's Foursquares ('Prairie-Box' dating from 1895-1930), Mission Revival, and Victorian styles built before the silver crash of 1893. Later examples of architecture include Colonial Revivial, Dutch Colonial Revival and the ubiquitous and quaint Craftsman-style bungalow homes. Today we saw tons of Victorians in the Potter-Highland Historic District. We walked around for a long time and before I knew it, it was well past noon and it was time for a snack. We walked over to 32nd Avenue and the hunt was on for a coffee shop or a little bakery. At the corner of Clay, I saw a place called 'Spuntino' and I had a feeling this was going to hit the spot. (This 'Spuntino' is not to be confused with Frankie's Spuntino, the Brooklyn eatery, which has also been mentioned on this blog. It also shouldn't be confused with 'spumoni'- that's an ice cream with layers of colored flavors and candied nuts.) 

Spuntino is an Italian snack-- and this place has small plates, paninis, gelato, piadine and soup. They also have homemade popsicles, which are apparently fantastic, though I didn't try them personally. (Next time.) The menu is well thought out with dolce (sweet) and salato (savory) options.  I got a pastry, a cup of coffee and some gelato-to-go. When I got home I portioned out the gelato, a Chocolate Covered Sea Salt Caramel.  Seriously. It was delicious and authentic. Apparently the owners had flown in an expert from Italy to train employees on the gelato making process. It was spot on. 

A few blocks away is Little Man Ice Cream.  Their 1,400 lbs. milk can/store is fantastic and their ice cream is delicious.  Not for today though. Maybe Wednesday!   

Next week I'll be heading over to Park Hill and SoBo. Stay turned!

time for a snack...

back to our walk...

back at home...

ladle out some love: old fashioned cream of mushroom soup

Around this time of year I go nuts for soups and I was feeling something with mushroom in it. This recipe for Old Fashioned Cream of Mushroom Soup comes from Anna Thomas's 'Love Soup' - a 2010 James Beard Foundation Cookbook winner. It's the first recipe I've made from Thomas's book and I'm so glad I started with it. (I only have 159 more to go!)  

Now don't let the 'cream' part scare you or have you running to the treadmill- there are only 3 tablespoons in the whole pot.  The soup has  great texture, awesome flavor and some really nice heat, thanks to the paprika. I followed the recipe as written, but added a healthy dose of thyme to the mushrooms while they were sautéing. That's just because I love thyme, but follow your preference here. 

I picked up some bread from the Denver Bread Company, ladled myself a big bowl of soup and presto, and dinner was served.  This is a great winter dish.

Old Fashioned Cream of Mushroom Soup

(Courtesy of Anna Thomas, Love Soup)

Yield: 6 servings


Ingredients:
1 1/4 pounds portobello, cremini, or brown button mushrooms


2 medium yellow onions


4 cloves garlic


2 stalks celery


3 tablespoons olive oil


1/2 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste


1 tablespoon unsalted butter


Freshly ground black pepper


Fresh or dried thyme


2-3 tablespoons dry sherry or dry Marsala


6-7 cups any basic vegetable broth or 5 cups canned vegetable broth diluted with 2 cups water


2 1/2 tablespoons Arborio rice


1 teaspoon sweet paprika


3 tablespoons half-and-half or light cream


1/3 cup chopped fresh dill or flat-leaf parsley


Sour cream or crème fraiche for garnish (optional)



Method:


Clean and coarsely chop the mushrooms. Chop the onions; you should have about 3 cups. Mince the garlic and chop the celery to get about 3/4 cup.



In a nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil, add the chopped onions and a pinch of salt, and cook over gentle heat, stirring now and then, until the onions are soft and golden, about 20 minutes.



Meanwhile, in a second skillet, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil with the butter and sauté the garlic in it over medium heat for about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms, 1/2 teaspoon salt and black pepper and thyme to taste. Raise the heat to high and sauté the mushrooms, stirring often, until they give up their liquid, sizzle, and begin to turn darker brown, 7 or 8 minutes. Add a splash of sherry or Marsala and stir as it cooks away.



While the mushrooms and onions are sautéing, put the broth, rice, and celery into a soup pot and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes. (Remember, if you are using canned broth you should dilute it, about 2 parts broth to 1 part water, or it will be too salty.) When the mushrooms and onions are ready, add them to the pot along with the paprika and keep simmering, covered, for another 15 minutes.

Remove the soup from the heat and stir in the half-and-half and the fresh dill or parsley. Taste, and correct the seasoning with a pinch more salt if needed.

You can serve the soup as it is-- but another way to prepare the soup (and the way I made it) is to purée the soup to a semi-rough stage.  Add half the fresh dill or parsley to the soup with the half-and-half, then purée it with an immersion blender, using brief pulses, or a regular blender working in batches, until it is somewhere between smooth and chunky. Then sprinkle the remaining herbs on top of the soup and serve it.
If you like, drop a spoonful of sour cream or crème fraiche on each serving.

Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Ginger-Sesame Dressing

There are certain cookbooks I just can't live without; they're the cookbooks that contain the recipes I make over and over and over again...never tiring of the flavors or the dishes, no matter how many times I make them. One such cookbook is Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks. I've credited that book dozens of times since I started this blog. And then I realized that I've never made any of the dishes from her first cookbook, Super Natural Cooking. I didn't own it, so I decided to buy it-- despite my little moratorium on no new cookbook purchases. 

Now unlike some of my cookbooks, which call for obscure ingredients, contain difficult cooking techniques and have prep times that just don't gel with my current lifestyle, this book is right up my alley. It has inspired dishes that are super flavorful, easy to make, and don't require advanced culinary degrees for successful execution.
I decided to start with the 'Otsu' recipe because my friend Charlotta highly recommended it. I loved it- the otsu is a wonderful cold soba (soba is buckwheat in Japanese) noodle salad, with cucumbers, pan fried tofu and scallions. The salad is coated in an awesome ginger-sesame dressing-- one that is salty, sweet, spicy, tangy (all at the same time) and just plain delicious. I thought I'd pass on this dish to you...

The original inspiration for the dish comes from a little restaurant in San Francisco called Pomelo. And Heidi's adaptation is terrific. You can easily eat the 4-6 portions by yourself...in one sitting. I promise, I won't tell.
As they say in Japan, どうぞめしあがれ (douzo meshiagare). Enjoy your meal! 

Ginger-Sesame Otsu (Adapted slightly from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking)

Ginger-Sesame Dressing:

Grated zest of 1 lemon

1-inch cube fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 tablespoon honey

3/4 teaspoon cayenne

3/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1 1/4 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup unseasoned brown rice vinegar

1/3 cup tamari soy sauce (the original recipe calls for shoyu sauce)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

(Note: I didn't have any sesame oil on hand, so I just used 3 tablespoons of olive oil. It worked for me. I've seen other modifications to this recipe that use canola oil.)

For the Rest:

12 ounces dried soba noodles

12 ounces extra-firm nigari tofu (I used organic extra-firm tofu.  Nigari is even firmer than standard extra-firm, but my regular tofu held up well when it was pan fried and added to the noodles.) 

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (I omitted the cilantro because I don't care for the taste of cilantro in this kind of dish. Adjust according to your preference.) 

3 green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, seeded and thinly sliced

1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds for garnish (I toasted the seeds in a fry pan for a few minutes.  Be careful! Seeds can burn easily, so keep an eye on 'em.) 

Directions:

To make the dressing, combine the zest, ginger, honey, cayenne, and salt in a food processor (or use a hand blender) and process until smooth. Add the lemon juice, rice vinegar, and shoyu (tamari) and pulse to combine. With the machine running, drizzle in the oils.

Cook the soba in plenty of rapidly boiling salted water just until tender (I cooked them for about 6 minutes) then drain and rinse under cold running water. 

While the pasta is cooking, drain the tofu, pat it dry, and cut into rectangles roughly the size of your thumb (1/2 inch thick and 1 inch long). Cook the tofu in a dry nonstick (or well seasoned) skillet over medium-high heat for a few minutes, until the pieces are browned on one side. Toss gently once or twice, then continue cooking for another minute or so, until the tofu is firm, golden, and bouncy.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the soba, the 1/4 cup cilantro (optional), green onions, cucumber and about 2/3 cup of the dressing and toss until well combined. Add the tofu and toss again gently. Add more dressing until the dish is to your liking. Serve on a platter, garnished with the cilantro sprigs and toasted sesame seeds. 

Oops! I Did It Again (Dorie's Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies)

As is the custom on most mornings in my house, I turned my computer on and began to read the morning's news.  Baby Theodore was sleeping and Otis was watching his "stories." I had a nice, hot cup of coffee to my right and a little plate with a chocolate chip cookie on my left.  When the first cookie was dusted, I, in an almost zombie-like haze, went to get another...then another...and yes, another.  I was in a trance.  I was on auto pilot. And I couldn't be stopped. 

Below is Dorie's recipe...

 Chocolate Chip Cookies (Courtesy of Dorie Greenspan, Baking: From My Home to Yours)
{Note: If you are allergic to chopped nuts, just leave them out.  If you want the cookies gooey, cook them until they are just slightly brown around the edges- about 10 minutes.  If you like your cookies with more of a crunch, keep them in for a minute longer- until more of the cookie is golden brown- about 11 to 12 minutes.  I added a tablespoon of instant espresso just to make them pop!} 

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt (1 1/4 teaspoons if you really like salt)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter , at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips or 2 cups store-bought chocolate chips or chunks
1 cup finely chopped walnuts or 1 cup pecans
Directions:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for about 1 minute, until smooth. Add the sugars and beat for another 2 minutes or so, until well-blended. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes inches Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in 3 portions, mixing only until each addition is incorporated. On low speed, or by hand with a rubber spatula, mix in the chocolate and nuts. (The dough can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen. There's no need to defrost the dough before baking- just add another minute or two to the baking time.)
Spoon the dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between spoonfuls.
Bake the cookies- one sheet at a time and rotating the sheet at the midway point- for 10-12 minutes, or until they are brown at the edges and golden in the center; they may still be a little soft in the middle, and that's just fine. Pull the sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for 1 minute, then carefully, using a wide metal spatula, transfer them to racks to cool to room temperature.
Repeat with the remainder of the dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

Carrot-Fennel Soup

I can't tell you how many times I've passed fennel bulbs in the market and thought, "I should really figure out what to do with those."  I've had fennel in salad-- thinly, thinly sliced by mandolin and paired with citrus, but I've never used them at home. 
For those of you who have shied away from using the bulb because you think it will taste like anise or licorice (like I did), think again. Florence Fennel (they type I used)  has a flavor that is sweeter and more delicate than anise.  When it's slowly cooked it becomes even lighter and it produces a savory sweetness.  
I found some great looking fennel at my local market last week.  There were some super-vibrant looking carrots as well. I decided it was time to make this soup.  I was even more convinced when temperatures dipped into the single digits. Yikes. Soup time!  
I spotted this recipe on One Perfect Bite. The soup is an adaptation of Amanda Hessler's recipe (New York Times Magazine) by Molly Wizenberg of Orangette. I modified it only slightly. I used 3/4 of the fronds (chopped and added off heat before the soup was puréed) and separated 1/2 of the dill-like leaves, opting to use them for garnish instead of throwing them into the pot. 
Now, you know me. I don't usually shy away from using butter or cream.  But I didn't have any crème fraîche or sour cream in the house when I made this soup. The addition of crème fraîche would have made the soup a wee-bit creamier, but I didn't miss it. Not one bit. If you happen to have it in the house, fine.  Go ahead and add it.  But I certainly wouldn't make a trip to the market for it. 
I love thick purée soups and this one is so, so simple to make! It's perfect for the busy cook who feels like he or she is short on Vitamin A. The color is just gorgeous.  And the flavor is fantastic! Enjoy.  

Carrot-Fennel Soup (Adapted by Orangette, from an Amanda Hesser recipe in The New York Times Magazine, and spotted on One Perfect Bite) 
Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoons of butter 
1 Tbsp. olive oil 
1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced; fronds reserved and chopped (see my adaptation above)
1 ½ lbs. carrots, sliced into large rounds (1/4-1/2 inch)
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 cups vegetable broth (I used Sunflower Organic brand).  You can add more stock later if you want a thinner consistency. 
¾ tsp. salt, or to taste
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
(Optional) 2 Tbsp. crème fraîche, or more to taste. You can also use sour cream.
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
In a large, heavy saucepan, warm oil over medium heat. Add the fennel slices, and cook, stirring, until softened. Add the carrots and garlic, and cook for another minute or two. Pour in 4 cups vegetable broth (if, after puréeing, you feel that the soup is too thick, you can add the final cup, but it’s better to err on the side of adding too little at first), and season with salt. Simmer, covered, until the carrots and fennel are very tender, about 20-30 minutes.
Remove the soup from the heat, and stir in the orange juice and reserved fennel fronds. If you have an immersion blender, purée the soup directly in the pot; otherwise, transfer it in batches to a food processor or blender, puréeing until smooth. Stir in the crème fraîche if you are using it. Taste, and adjust seasoning as necessary. Garnish with fennel leaves. Drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil. Serve warm. (And with a nice piece of bread!)