I was charged with making the dessert for our family get together this weekend. The prospect of making dessert is always exciting for me because I rarely make dessert and, therefore, this gives me the opportunity to try something completely new. The only problem is figuring out what to make. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but there are billions of dessert recipes out there! It’s like a whole other world of cooking that I know nothing about. When you only make dessert a few times a year, choosing a recipe from the masses can be pretty tough.

In general, I prefer fruit-based desserts (notable exceptions being creme brulee, anything made with spicy Mexican chocolate, and my family’s Christmas cookies which all fall into the nutty, buttery category.) Since it is spring and rhubarb is really the only “fruit” in season in Seattle right now, I narrowed my choice down to rhubarb something (crisp, cobbler, pie, something.) Not only would this be in keeping with my goal to eat more seasonally, it would also allow Robert to dust off his pet name for rhubarb: disco celery!

Inspired by this delicious-sounding recipe for Cornmeal Cake with Buttermilk Ice Cream and Rhubarb Compote, I decided to try my hand at making a rhubarb upside down cake. I followed the cornmeal cake recipe exactly as written. Instead of making a separate rhubarb compote, I whipped up a simple rhubarb topping for my cake. For the topping (or I guess it would actually be the bottom since this was an upside down cake,) I cut up about 4 cups of rhubarb. In a large pan, I melted 2 tablespoons of butter and added the rhubarb along with 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1 teaspoon grated orange zest. I let that cook for only a minute or two and then turned off the heat. After resting for a few minutes, I was left with a pretty watery mixture. I knew the liquid would thicken up eventually during baking but, since I was using a spring form cake pan rather than a one-piece cake pan, I was worried that the sugary liquid would leak out of the pan and cause a fire in my oven. And, sure enough, as I was spreading the cake batter over the rhubarb, some of the liquid began to dribble out the sides. To be safe, I placed a large baking sheet on the rack below the cake to catch the drippings. 45 minutes later, I had a perfectly cooked upside down cake and one very caramelized baking sheet!

Later that evening, my mom told me I should have just lined the cake pan with tin foil (duh - why didn’t I think of that?) Oh well, it didn’t matter in the end. I didn’t burn the house down, and now I know, if I ever make an upside down cake again, not to use an unlined spring form pan. And, the cake turned out really good! It tasted like sweetened cornbread with a nice, layer of rhubarb jam on top.

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned how tiny our Broadway farmer’s market was compared to the more established markets around town such those in Ballard and West Seattle. Well, I am happy to report that things seem to have picked up a bit this year. There are still only a handful of farm stands selling fresh produce, but I know for a fact there is at least one that wasn’t around last year. Although the offerings are kind of slim at this point, it is still very early in the season. I’m sure the produce will become much more abundant over the next few months. In addition to the farm stands, there are more prepared food vendors this time around which helps give this year’s market a much livelier spirit. The recent sunshine is no doubt helping out in that regard as well. Many of my memories from last year’s market involve farmers huddling under their tarps trying to stay dry while the few patrons brave enough to face the rain ran around trying to do their shopping as quickly as possible. Give us a sunny day here in Seattle and people will gladly spend all morning wandering around the farmer’s market.

Although the variety of produce is much more modest this early in the season, I still managed to find a number of interesting things; things I probably never would have paid much attention to if it wasn’t for my brand new cookbook: Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers’ Markets by Deborah Madison. This was actually part of our annual staff gift at work along with a reusable shopping bag (can you tell I work for an environmental company?) This is a perfect gift for me as I am a longtime fan of Deborah Madison. Her early cookbooks, The Savory Way and The Greens Cookbook, are classics in my family and, although I’m only part of the way through it, I wouldn’t be surprised if this new book also makes the list of favorites. Not only is it a fantastic collection of recipes, Local Flavors is also a really great reference guide for some of the less common fruits and vegetables that you often see at farmer’s markets. In preparation for this book, Deborah visited farmer’s markets across the nation, and she recounts plenty of interesting stories from them making this a very pleasant book to read. Deborah’s recipes are all very simple, allowing the exceedingly fresh and flavorful produce that farmer’s markets are known for to shine through. Some recipes feature regional fare that may not be available everywhere, but most rely on ingredients common to all farmer’s markets.

After reading through the chapters related to spring vegetables, I felt ready to approach my farmer’s market with new eyes. I excitedly picked up two vegetables I had never used before: sorrel and lovage. Sorrel is a leafy green with a bright, lemony flavor. It can be used raw in salads or may be cooked. Lovage is an herb that has a flavor similar to that of celery. From my new cookbook, I decided to make Risotto with Sorrel because it was so simple and therefore seemed like it would be a good showcase for the sorrel. The basic risotto is made from nothing more than butter, onion, Arborio rice, vegetable stock and lots and lots of sorrel. A few herbs and some cream are stirred in right at the end, but I actually thought it tasted great even before adding those extra ingredients. The sorrel cooks down to a deep olive-colored puree. It was amazingly buttery in texture, and I was quite surprised at how little of its signature tart flavor was lost even after cooking for nearly 45 minutes. The risotto tasted very Greek to me, like a complex spinach & dill flavored rice with lemon even though it was only made with sorrel. I served the risotto with salmon and a mix of braised spring vegetables including baby turnips, asparagus and green garlic which I seasoned with a dusting of minced lovage. It was a perfect springtime meal!

It was an amazingly sunny and hot day in Seattle yesterday, and Robert and I took advantage of it with a trip to the Ballard Locks. On the way, we decided to swing by Lunchbox Laboratory, Ballard’s new burger shack, to see what all the fuss is about. I’ve been hearing about this place everywhere for the past few weeks it seems. All of the food blogs are raving about it. It even came up in my knitting group forum. Lunchbox Laboratory is apparently the new hotspot in town so, of course, I had to go and check it out!

At first glance, Lunchbox Laboratory looks like your average burger joint: casual, kitschy and tiny (and, when I say tiny, I mean tiny - there are only three tables inside!) As evidenced by the long line of people waiting to order, however, it is anything but average. Moments after we had secured our place in line, the line behind us had doubled in size. I guess I’m not the only one who’s been hearing all the buzz about this place. There was only one woman taking orders and serving food so the line was moving pretty slowly. Although there were only 5 or so people ahead of us, it still took about 20 minutes for us to even get to place our order.

20 minutes is actually the perfect amount of time to wait, as it turns out, because Lunchbox Laboratory’s menu is huge! It takes at least 10 minutes to even read through the thing. Then, you have the challenge of actually making up your mind. The menu is written up on two big boards: daily specials and drinks on one and burgers and sides on the other. The burgers are “build your own.” You start with a choice of patty which includes standards such as beef and lamb as well as some more unusual options like kielbasa and “the dork” (a duck and pork blend.) Then, for toppings, you choose from a list of a dozen or so cheeses and an even greater number of creative sauces (satan’s tears ketchup, million island, and stone-ground horsey aioli to name just a few.) There are some other toppings available as well such as maple bacon and crushed green olives. Sides include fries (skinny, krinkle, tater tot, sweet potato) as well as onion rings and mac and cheese. As if that wasn’t enough to make your head spin, even the fries come with your choice of salt (bacon, smoked tea, etc.) A variety of daily specials and shakes and sodas round out the menu. We had barely managed to get it all figured out before it was time to place our order (I’m guessing this is a common problem since the woman taking orders actually complimented us on our ability to place our order in an organized and efficient manner, a feat I’m quite proud of!)

We took our burgers down to the locks and found a nice shady spot to sit and eat. All of the food was still piping hot and crisp when we took it out of the bag, always a good sign. The burgers, which were absolutely enormous, came wrapped up in tin foil with a little box of sliced tomato, crisp romaine hearts, shredded onions and pickles on the side. I had a falafel-quinoa burger topped with havarti cheese and basil aioli. It was great but impossible to eat politely! The patty itself was crusty, tasty and very moist (a rare quality among veggie burgers.) I could see pretty little flecks of red quinoa throughout the patty which made me happy. Robert had a buffalo burger with havarti and BBQ sauce. He loved it. We both ordered the same fries, skinnies with bacon salt (which is magically vegetarian.) They were delicious! I washed my burger down with a Jackson Hole huckleberry soda.

I could only eat about half my burger before I felt like I was going to explode. Robert had to lay down for a bit after finishing all of his. I’m pretty sure these burgers are potentially coma-inducing. I can only imagine what might happen to a person who orders the cheese-stuffed beef patty topped with more cheese and maple bacon. Yikes! Feeling the need to work off some of our gigantic, delicious lunch, we wandered around the locks for a bit. Robert hadn’t been there before, and I always forget how neat it is. We spent some time watching the water levels being raised and lowered to allow the boats to pass through. We saw tons of baby salmon passing through the fish ladder on their journey out to sea where they will mature into adults. We were even lucky enough to spot a greedy sea lion on the other side waiting for the baby salmon to come through!

Robert and I took a trip to the Ballard Farmers Market last Sunday. Our Capitol Hill Farmers Market opens this coming weekend, and, although I’m super excited about it, it really can’t hold a candle to the Ballard Farmers Market. The Capitol Hill market is very small with only a handful of farmers selling their produce and an even smaller number of vendors offering baked goods or other prepared foods. The Ballard Farmers Market, on the other hand, has everything! Organic meats, fresh shellfish, tons of cheese vendors, pizza fresh from Veraci’s mobile pizza oven, live music, you name it. I’m so jealous that it isn’t in my neighborhood. I’m hopeful that our little farmers market will begin to catch on and grow a bit over the next few years (it’s still pretty new.)

Aside from the fact that a trip to the farmers market is generally a fun way to spend the morning, our main reason for going was to get our hands on some tamales from the Patty Pan Grill stand! The last time we visited the market, back in early April, we had just eaten breakfast so we weren’t in the mood to eat anything more. But, after catching a whiff of the grilled onions and veggies coming from the Patty Pan Grill stand, we made a pact to come back as soon as possible. All of the tamales at Patty Pan Grill are vegetarian, and you can order them solo or with a side of their delicious grilled vegetables. The grilled veggies – that day a mix of cabbage, kale, gai lan, and onions – are cooked on a large cast-iron griddle with ground cumin and chili powder. The aroma coming off that griddle is amazing. We ordered a tamale and a grilled vegetable quesadilla (pictured.) The tamale and quesadilla were both good, but it was the grilled veggies that really did it for me!

Robert decided to pick up a 3-pack of tamales to take home and have as his Cinco de Mayo lunch the next day. We also bought a poppy seed-filled bread and a raspberry strudel from the Little Prague Bakery, a half loaf of Tall Grass Bakery’s awesome pumpernickel-dried cherry bread, a small wedge of “Tipsy Cow,” a cabernet-washed cow’s milk cheese from River Valley Ranch (which went beautifully on the pumpernickel-cherry bread) and some baby carrots and rapini which Robert used in a delicious noodle stir-fry for dinner Sunday evening. Hooray for the farmers market!

Still looking for the perfect dish to serve at that upcoming Mother’s Day brunch? How about Blueberry Cream Cheese Braid? I made this last weekend, and it was awesome. I’m not really in the habit of making extravagant breads such as this, but I might just need to start. Although it looks complicated, this bread is actually pretty easy to put together, and much of the work can be done the night before. The dough is much easier to work with than a regular bread dough because it contains butter which keeps it from being too sticky during the kneading process. The end result is a soft, rich, slightly sweet bread. The blueberry and cream cheese filling is wonderful, although nearly any filling would be good here. Poppyseed with rum-soaked raisins or lemon curd with sweetened ricotta cheese sound like excellent alternatives to me. Or, like the recipe suggests, you could even do a savory version with mushrooms and cheese. Yum!

This recipe comes from a really great baking website called The Fresh Loaf. If you are interested in learning to make delicious bread, be sure to check out this site. They have wonderful written lessons for beginners and even a few helpful videos. There are also book reviews, a community forum, baker blogs, and plenty of recipes for scrumptious-looking breads (and some desserts too.) All of the recipes have step-by-step instructions with pictures. So far, I have only had a chance to try the Daily Bread and the Blueberry Cream Cheese Braid. My sister made the Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Bread, and she said it was really, really good. It’s enough to make me want to buy a huge jar of yeast and spend each day baking a new kind of bread!