Strawberries!

About two weeks ago, to celebrate my freedom from radioactive isolation and one of Rich's last days off, we went to a local berry farm to load up on Strawberries.  We ended up paying $13.90 for about seven pounds of berries.  What a haul!  It only took us like 30-45 minutes to pick that many, I was amazed.  The plan was to make freezer jam but I planned poorly so we ended up with a small batch of jam and a big batch of crushed berries, frozen to be turned into something at a later date.

Being the kitchen gadget freak that I am, I bought two new small toys to deal with the strawberry harvest. First was a strawberry huller. Now I have tried these before, the dinky little ones that look like flat tweezers.  Basically worthless.  True, a paring knife works well but I'm not a big knife person and with the recent surgery, I was looking for something fast and easy.  This huller was awesome.  Even Rich started using it and he HATES my gadgets.  "A knife will do just fine," says he.

The Chef'n StemGem Strawberry Huller opens up, cuts into the berry, you give it a twist, and pop, you pull out the stem and (if you're really good) the woody center all at once.  It was fast, it didn't take too much berry, and it didn't get tiring or cause a repetitive stress injury.  Pretty good going for one little gadget versus seven pounds of berries!

My other toy is the Lattice Pocket Pie Mold from Williams Sonoma.  I didn't end up making it to the farmer's market so I had to use California berries instead of local, but they were on sale at Cub so c'est la vie.  After hulling a pound of berries (it's actually fun now!) I chopped them up and sort of made my own pie filling recipe.  I ended up letting the berries macerate with about 1/4 cup of sugar but should have used more, the pies didn't end up very sweet.  I realized at the last second that I had no cornstarch so I used arrowroot instead, about a tablespoon.  I also added a few grinds of black pepper, something that really works well with strawberries and makes them "zing."

From food.craft.life.

From food.craft.life.

Using a store bought pie dough (shame on me!) I cut out the shapes using the pie mold.  The plastic edges did a remarkably good job making a clean cut in the dough.  You then flip the mold over, press in the solid piece of dough, add filling, top with the lattice, and squeeze to seal.  The mold works pretty well but I can see that it will take practice (and better dough) to really make this gadget shine.  Most of my pies didn't seal properly or ended up misshapen when I tried to get them out of the mold.  The instructions on the box say to freeze the pies for 30 minutes before baking.  I'm guessing this is to help them keep their shape.

From food.craft.life.

From food.craft.life.

Despite my poor results, I think the pie mold has promise.  I would love to try some savory pies for lunches as well as more sweet pies.  Hopefully with better dough, better filling, and better technique, I'll be able to master the Lattice Pocket Pie Mold.  And hey, if not, even the ugly pies are tasty!

From food.craft.life.

From food.craft.life.

Victory 44 - Local food for local people

Rich and I just got home from trying Victory 44 in the Camden neighborhood of Minneapolis. It's about six/seven blocks away from us and we found it by accident thanks to the current roadwork detouring us off Victory Memorial Drive.

Though the decor is rather sparse, the space has a lot of promise and there is also a nice patio. The place was close to full when we arrived around 7ish on a Saturday but we were able to sit immediately.

Rich tried the Fish and Chips as he is always on the look out for a good replacement for his home Chippy. We love Mac's in St. Paul but it's a hike for humble food. Victory 44 gets their haddock in twice a week and it's not frozen. The batter was light and crispy and the chips, while more American style than the chubby chips in England, were fresh and delicious. The menus called them "salt and vinegar chips" but we didn't taste any vinegar until we asked for some on the side and doused them with that. He quickly declared it the best fish and chips since he left England.

I had the Sausage Roll, expecting the British style of sausage meat wrapped in something similar to puff pastry and the baked. Instead I got a sausage on a delicious toasted roll. The "HP Sauce" is housemade and Rich instantly pegged it for not actual HP Sauce. It was tasty but much sweeter than real HP. I probably would have enjoyed the sausage roll more if it had been easier to eat, the sausage wanted to slide out of the roll and it was a mess, but a tasty one! Both meals came with housemade ketchup that was fantastic.

For dessert we shared a banana pastry, pastry dough with thin slices of roasted banana topped with vanilla bean creme fraiche, whiskey caramel sauce, and crunchy chocolate coated rice krispies. It was a fabulous combination of sweet and roasty and the portion, while smallish, was rich enough to be perfect for sharing after a heavy meal.

We both want to go back soon to try more of the menu. The daytime menu also looks good with french toast and omelettes.

All in all, I think they are still getting things figured out (just opened May 1st) but we are excited to make Victory 44 a regular dining option!