Category: Food & Cooking

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Falling into fall

A gnarled western juniper thrives in the arid climate of the high desert

This week we continue to embrace the fall season with short road trips. We are taking advantage of the cool mornings and warm afternoons without smoke laden air.

Wild sage along the riverbank
At winter levels the Crooked River has exposed rock and weed beds.

One downside of the shift to winter is the river draw downs.

To get reservoirs back to capacity for the next irrigation season, dams on the upper Deschutes and Crooked river restrict flows, basically lowering river levels. The Crooked River is down to what seemed like a trickle and it’s water was too turbid to fish. However, that didn’t deter Tip from exploring.

The other activity was pizza baking … from scratch.

This Ooni is heated by gas but cooks more like a wood fired oven.

We’d picked up a gas pizza oven at the end of summer and have been playing with recipes. There is a bit more involved in making pizza, rather than heating up frozen or just carry out. There’s a learning curve and failed attempts, but we are starting to dial in the best cooking method and the last few pies have turned out great.

Scratch-made gives you a delicious pie with total control over the ingredients.

The Ooni oven will be great for other “wood fired” baking jobs. Flat bread is on the list to try.

For now, we’re working on tweeking dough recipes to fine tune our pizza crust, very important, as there are a surprising number of variations possible.

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With or Without Sprinkles

Wickiup Junction’s fresh donuts begin to run low by late morning. If we are lucky we can snag our favorite … Cinnamon Sugar Raised.

Many … perhaps too many road trips begin at a local landmark, Wickiup Junction to fuel our car and sweet tooth.

Fifty years ago a sporting goods store opened at the junction of Burgess road and Highway 97. For years it was the only general store in the La Pine area, but as the population grew it added a gas station and deli. It is after all on a major access route to the water ways and trails along the Cascade Highway and Upper Deschutes River.

A warm chocolate covered raised donut with a heavy sprinkle of chopped peanuts.
Tip is a big fan of nuts.

But the main reason to add Wickiup Junction to a trip itinerary is for the donuts.

We’re not sure when they started offering fresh baked goodies in addition to a well stocked cooler and deli, but it was a good move.

We’re kind of donut snobs, The word connoisseur doesn’t quite fit for this basic pastry, that said, we rarely miss an opportunity to try a new donut shop. Wickiup Junction is at the top of our list for now.

Wickiup does offer classic cake donuts … but for us Raised reign supreme.

Let’s talk raised just so we have a level field. In Portland there’s Blue Star (don’t even try to add VooDoo to a list) and Bend has Richard’s. Any of which are good morning pastry offerings.

However, hit Wickiup Junction, between 7 and 9 am and you’ll be able to get warm goodness that literally melts in the mouth.

Sometimes we manage to save our morning pastry to savor next to a fishing stream. Mugs of coffee in hand we are living our best life!

Our favorites are Cinnamon Sugar or Glazed, but really anything with maple frosting is delicious.

They do offer embellishments; chunks of candy, sprinkles and Hole-less rounds oozing custard or jelly.

But these only serve as distractions from a soft dough fried to an even golden brown featuring a slightly sweet flavor … and no greasy aftertaste.

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Seasonal journeys

In this house there is always fruit on the counter and in the fridge. We do play favorites and eat mostly to season. Winter is citrus, berries for Spring, Summer is stone fruit and Fall is all about apples and melons.

I think apples are my favorite for everyday eating. Thus we look forward to the fall and our annual trip to the orchards that line the hills around Hood River, Oregon.  We make this pilgrimage pretty much every fall for the last dozen years and we always go to the same spot.

Kiyokawa Family Orchards (yeah, I don’t know how to pronounce it either) is about the only place we ever go. There are lots of different stands in the area, check out the Fruit Loop map and website. This place has a huge variety of apples, pears, and plums.

In the past it was a giant apple tasting. Due to current Covid circumstances, they have altered the buying experience a bit. The slices for tasting aren’t sitting on the bins of fruit. They also stopped individually weighing your purchases. Instead, you move through a well thought out social distancing maze, pick out either a box or bag, pay, then proceed to fill with fruit of your choice.

Winding your way past tubs of fruit, you can pick from all offerings, exiting near where you started, only now you have a box of apples and pears.

The only problem is trying to remember the different varieties and maintaining tasting notes so you can find the ones you like best next year.

– book note –

 

You should find a copy of Dan Rather’s recent book “What Unites Us”. A timely discussion on America, democracy and the fragile threads holding our nation together. We’ve been working through it a chapter at a time, reading it aloud to each other. Excellent book, sparking energetic discussion.

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The devil you say

We’ve been out of sorts lately. A recent encounter between a deer and our car (the deer survived, our car not so much) has us sans our all terrain vehicle. With the car at the body shop for 4-6 weeks, our normal schedule has been slightly upended.

Luckily for us, a recent trip to our local grocery store provided inspiration. Several items which have been out of stock since March suddenly appeared … namely, pickling salt and cake flour.

Bread and Butter Pickles

This is a staple in our pantry and unfortunately, we are on our last jar! The timing couldn’t be better. The pickles are used in our homemade potato salad and extra juice is used for brining hard boiled eggs.

Devil’s Food  Cake
A mix of dutch-processed cocoa powder, unsweetened chocolate and hot water enhances the chocolate flavor. A combination of cake flour (tender crumb) and all-purpose flour (structure) create a melt-in-your mouth texture.

Jack recently put in a request for cake. It needed to be chocolate, packed with flavor and easy to freeze.   I went to the experts of food alchemy, Cook’s Illustrated, and found what I hoped was the perfect cake … Devil’s Food Cake.

The essence of this cake is a very moist, velvety texture, combined with intense chocolate flavor. Sounds perfect. We baked it in a sheet pan to help meet the freezing requirement. The cake itself is so rich in flavor it doesn’t need frosting. What you say? No frosting? Yes, it’s that good.

Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Devil's Food Cake

An extremely rich and tender cake, that if baked in a 13x9 pan, will NOT need frosting to be a great treat.
Servings: 10 people

Ingredients

  • 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate chopped
  • 1/4 cup dutch-processed cocoa
  • 1 1/4 cup boiling water
  • 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup cake flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 16 tbsp unsalted butter 2 sticks / softened
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed
  • 3 large eggs at room temp
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Adjust the oven racks to the middle position; heat the oven to 350º F. Meanwhile, grease a and line the bottom of a 13x9 pan with parchment. Combine the chocolate and cocoa in a medium bowl; pour the boiling water over and whisk until smooth. Sift together the flours, baking soda, and salt onto a large sheet of parchment paper; set aside.
  • Beat the butter in the bowl of a standing mixer at medium-high speed until it is creamed, about 1 minute. Add the brown sugar and beat at high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatual. With the mixer at medium-high speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, beating 30 seconds after each addition. Reduce the speed to medium; add the sour cream and vanilla and beat until combined, about 10 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl. With the mixer at low speed, add about a third of the flour mixture, followed by about half of the chocolate mixture. Repeat, ending with the flour mixture; beat until just combined, about 15 seconds. Do not overbeat. Remove the bowl from the mixer; scrape the bottom and sides with a spatula and stir gently to thoroughly combine.
  • Pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan on the middle rack. Bake until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool the cake on a wire rack for 15 to 20 minutes. Run a knife around the perimeter of the pan to loosen. Invert onto a large plate; peel off the parchment paper and reinvert onto a rack. Cool completely. Sprinkle a light dusting of powdered sugar on top or apply your favorite frosting.
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A picnic lunch

It seems we’ve moved past spring and gone right into summer. It was 72º on the river today. When you have days like that you need to pack the car and enjoy.

What’s for lunch gets packed into Ello© glass boxes and loaded into the cooler. Today we had chopped salad, grilled chicken, summer sausage, havarti cheese, crackers and chips, chocolate sandwich cookies, snicker bars and some fresh strawberries.

The cooler has  ice extender tubes but also cubes in a ziplock. The sealed glass boxes are stacked on one side and then nestled up to the ice are cans of beer and soda.

When it’s lunch time you have a smorgasbord of goodies to spread out on a picnic table and enjoy.