Sur La Table = pretty food

For my birthday, Luke's sister Rachael gave me a gift certificate to Sur La Table. It was my first time going there, and it was basically my version of heaven. I spent forty minutes wandering up and down the aisles, picking up wonderfully unnecessary cooking tools and imagining all the things I could make (Shortcake cups that look like baskets? Molded shortbread? Properly funneled pies? (and if I'm ever rich, I would love to buy myself this)). I could've even stayed longer, but Luke got anxious to leave (he'd already gone to the Apple store, played with the new iphone, and come back). Before leaving, though, I was able to grab a couple not-needed-but-loved things that I've been wanting to get for a while- one thing I like about myself is how little stuff like this makes me so happy.

First, a tart pan. Pie tins work as just as well, but don't turn out as pretty. And it's impossible (for me) to cut a slice and get it onto a plate without messing it up a little. With a tart pan with removable bottom, you get beautiful looking quiches and tarts that look just as nice after being cut.


We usually try new things when we cook, but quiche is one of the few things we make on a regular basis. It's so cheap, so easy, and so yummy! And for a meal that lends itself to so many variations, we almost always have it the same way: spinach, mushrooms, and cheese. This quiche was good (after his first bite, Drew started swearing. In a good way), but what I'm really looking forward to is making tarts with light, flaky crusts and brimming with bright fruit.

My second purchase was a fluted ravioli cutter. Who needs it, right? But I've wanted to make ravioli for a while, haven't, and saw this as a way of getting me excited and motivated. And it worked. Tonight Luke and I made butternut squash ravioli with a browned sage butter drizzled on top. It was much easier than I thought it would be, and after eating huge platefuls, Luke and I leaned back and complimented ourselves on what good cooks we are.



The recipe (makes about 30 ravioli):

For the filling:
1 small butternut squash
salt
pepper
cinnamon
nutmeg
about 1/4 c mozzarella

For the dough:
3 C flour
1/2 t salt
2 eggs
About 3/4 flour

1. Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Brush the cut sides with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and put in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes.
2. When the squash comes out of the oven, let it cool while you make the dough.
3. Sift together flour and salt. Make a well in the flour mixture and crack the eggs into the well. Lightly beat the eggs with a fork. Mix the eggs and flour together, and slowly add water until a stiff dough forms.
3. Knead the dough til smooth, and then cover and let it sit fifteen minutes.
4. Scoop the squash out of the shells, add dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg, and add the cheese.
5. Divide the dough in half and roll out each half as thin as you can get it- between 1/16 and 1/8 of an inch.
6. Put the filling in little globs (about 1 t) about 1 1/2 inches apart on the dough. Cover with the other rolled out sheet, and press the sheets together around the filling to create little pockets. Cut with the ravioli stamp.

7. (Looking at recipes now, after the fact, I've learned that you should let the cut ravioli dry for an hour. We didn't do that, and it turned out well, but I will try that next time to see what a difference it makes).

8. Cook the ravioli by boiling it in salted water for 10-15 minutes.

9. Meanwhile, melt 2-3 T butter a pan, add sage (about 1/2 t), and brown.
10. Drizzle butter over the ravioli and serve.

It was so good!

Fishing

Until a couple weeks ago, I hadn't been fishing since I was eleven and my grandpa took me. In the summers, he lives in a motor home on a really pretty piece of land in the mountains of northern Utah. A little stream runs through the property, and he took me fishing for german brown trout. He had to put the worm on the hook, because I couldn't stand to feel it writhe as I stabbed it, and what we caught we ate for dinner. Fishing was quiet, and I liked it well enough.


Turns out, fishing's even better on a big boat in Strawberry Reservoir with your best friend and his family/friends (four guys ranging in ages from 18-50 who call themselves "Team Olsen"). I drove up late Saturday night, ate steak and campfire potatoes, and slept in a two-man tent with Drew and the dogs. In the morning, we watched the yorkshire terriers chase pot guts through the sagebrush, and then went out on the boat.

Most of fishing was sitting with my feet up, a quarter on my fishing line (so it would 'pop' when the fish were biting), and tropical Mike & Ikes by the handfuls. Kansas, Journey, Dire Straits, and Dixie Chicks blared while my sunburn got progressively worse. We used powerbait instead of worms, which was good- all of the guys we were with swore by a different flavor, and one insisted the secret was to use the orange bait and shape it to look like Nemo.


And I caught the biggest fish of the day! After only getting a crawdad during the first two and a half hour, it was great that in the last hour I caught a great big (21-inch) cutthroat. I was hoping to bring home something I could eat, but they're doing population control for the fish, and you can only bring home cutthroat that are smaller than 15 inches or bigger than 22. Still, though, I was pretty stoked.

The one thing I didn't like about fishing (aside from the resulting sunburn, I guess) was worrying about the fish we'd caught and released. The hooks we used were supposed to dissolve extra fast, and the guys I went with were experienced fishermen who could very quickly measure the fish to get it back in the water as soon as possible if it wasn't the right size. But what I didn't know is that fish that are released go through a period of shock, and just float on top of the water for a bit. We'd sit there, cheering them on as they soon came out of it and started flopping, twisting, and eventually swam away. The fish I caught took especially long to get over being stunned, and it was at least three or four minutes of me feeling sad/guilty before he finally snapped out of it and dove down into the water.

Anyway, fishing's fun. I'm going to get a license (I only got a day license, because I wasn't sure if I'd like it enough to go again) so I can go out again.