A South Of The Border Feast

Volunteers Justine and Rusti with today's lunch.

Guests at today's Wednesday Community Meal enjoyed homemade shredded pork and chicken enchiladas served with a side of chips, salsa and cold watermelon.

We made the enchiladas casserole-style using ingredients donated by the just-opened New Season's Market on NW Raleigh and ingredients purchased by Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Thank you New Season's for partnering with us to help feed the hungry in our community!

In addition to shredded pork and roasted chicken, they were filled with rice, black beans, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, carrot, kale, tomato and cheese. They were tasty, healthy and a hit in the dining room.

Roasted chicken for the enchiladas. We seasoned it with garlic, chili powder, cumin and Kosher salt.

Getting ready to mix the enchilada filling made with rice, shredded pork, roasted chicken, mushrooms, zucchini, black beans, tomatoes, kale, carrot, onion, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and Kosher salt.

mmm.... homemade enchiladas!

Also a big hit, was the cold watermelon that our wonderful volunteer gleaners found at The Oregon Food Bank.  The watermelon was crisp, sweet and cooling, a real treat on a hot day.

In addition to the entree, everyone was offered soup, salad and dessert. The salads were especially nice and were made with a mix of lettuces, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, olives, homemade croutons and Parmesan cheese. Some of the tomatoes in the salads were even home-grown and just-picked thanks to Dan, our volunteer coffee barista, who kindly shares his garden's bounty.

Today's gorgeous salads were made by volunteers John and Leah.

We served 265 meals today.

Putting In Long Hours

Today's hard working kitchen crew included Sierra, Ian, John, Suzanne and Zane.

By the time lunch is served at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral's Wednesday Community Meal, a group of volunteers have already put in nearly four hours of work,  preparing the food, setting up and washing dishes. By the end of the meal service and cleanup, a handful of volunteers have worked more than seven straight hours. 

It definitely takes a strong team of dedicated volunteers to pull off the everyone is welcome free meal each week and I'm grateful for every single one of our volunteers. It's work but it's joyful work because we are feeding nice people and hopefully making a difference in their lives.

One kind guest came up to the kitchen window after the service today and said, "Hi, I've been enjoying this meal for years and I thought it was about time that I said thanks."

We served 277 meals today. Most of the guests got oven-roasted turkey and gravy over rice and then we moved on to serving fritatta filled with zucchini, potatoes and sweet peppers and finally sauteed chicken over quinoa. Everyone who joined us was also offered soup, salad and dessert.

A roasted turkey meal.

The last guests we served today got sauteed chicken over quinoa.

Mini Pistachio Macarons

There are two thoughts on making pistachio macarons.

One is to make the macaron shells with ground pistachios in addition to making a pistachio filling. And the other is to keep the shells classic almond and just add a flavorful pistachio filling. My preference is the latter. 

I feel that the flavor of the almond shells is neutral enough to not muddle the taste of a rich pistachio filling and I prefer sticking with my tried and true recipe for macaron shells because then I have some reassurance they'll turn out. Macaron ingredients are not cheap and I don't want to risk having them wasted.

The secret ingredient of these Mini Pistachio Macarons is the decadent filling, made with toasted and ground pistachios, pure pistachio extract, unsalted butter, powdered sugar and a pinch of sea salt. The result is rich, lightly sweet and very pistachio-y. It's just perfect!

Two necessary ingredients for a great pistachio filling.

Here's the recipe:

Mini Pistachio Macarons
(makes 75 quarter-sized macarons)
180g ground almonds, sifted
270g powdered sugar, sifted
150g egg whites, aged 2 to 4 days in the fridge and then brought to room temperature
100g granulated sugar
moss green gel coloring

lemon yellow gel coloring

Line five heavy baking sheets with good quality parchment paper and set aside. Also, set aside two pastry bags for the piping of the macarons.

Sift together your ground almonds with the powdered sugar and set aside.

Whisk the egg whites (at room temperature) to glossy firm peaks adding the granulated sugar gradually in four parts.  Towards the end of mixing, add the gel colorings to achieve a deep pistachio green. The color of macarons lighten after baking so be sure to color the meringue more intensely than you want the macarons to turn out.

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper.  Mix well. 

Fold the mixture with the rubber scraper by pulling down the sides and flipping the mixture over. Do this until you have a smooth mixture that falls like a “ribbon” off the scraper.

Transfer the mixture into the two piping bags. Use rubber bands to close the piping bags. Clip the tip of the bags, one at a time, and pipe small nickel sized rounds, leaving 1-inch of space between each because they spread as they set.

Piped macarons resting before baking.

Leave to set for about 30 minutes or until the top has formed a crust and is not sticky to the touch.

While they are setting, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. A convection oven is preferable. 

Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for 8 to 11 minutes or until the cookie is firm, matte and doesn't wobble when touched.

Leave on the baking tray until cool then lift them all off the parchment carefully. You may need to use a thin knife to help lift them off.

Sort into pairs and fill with Pistachio Filling

Sorted macarons ready for some filling.

Pistachio Filling
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
pinch sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pure pistachio extract
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup pistachio meats
moss gel coloring (optional)

Lay the pistachio meats on a parchment lined baking sheet and toast them in a 350-degree oven for 5 to 7 minutes or until toasted and golden brown.

Pistachio meats ready to be toasted.

Grind the pistachios in a food processor until they are a fine powder. Add the powdered sugar and pulse to combine.

The toasted pistachio meats in the food processor.

Grind the meats to a fine powder.

Add powdered sugar.

The pistachio mixture is ready to be whipped into the butter and enhanced with pistachio extract and sea salt.

Place the pistachio mixture in a mixing bowl with the butter, sea salt and pistachio extract. Whip on high speed until light and creamy. Tint with coloring if desired.

Transfer the mixture to a piping bag for the filling of the macarons.

The finished filling. I tinted it with a bit of moss green gel coloring.

Filled Mini Pistachio Macarons. Keep the macarons chilled until you are ready to serve them.

Five Ways To Use Seasonal Fruit

Whether you get your bounty from a tree in your own backyard or a deal at the farmer's market, here are a few ideas on how to utilize seasonal fruits. 

For us in Portland, Oregon, right now, it's nectarines, peaches and plums that are in season and I'm loving the deals.

Isn't it great that buying seasonal fruit means that you get the best prices on fruit that's at its peak both taste and nutrition wise? So stock up, freeze some and enjoy these delicious seasonal fruit treats.

 #1

Fruit Sauce: This is so easy to make and a good way to utilize a surplus of overripe fruit.

Pancakes topped with apricot sauce. All I did was mash up a cup of ripe apricots, add some sugar and simmer it over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Soft fruits like apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries and berries transform into a sauce so much faster than firmer fruits like apples.  It really takes no time at all and is so good.

Besides topping pancakes, enjoy the sauces as is or try them on waffles, toast, plain yogurt or ice cream.

#2

Individual Fruit Tarts: Top rounds of pie dough with diced fruit, sprinkle with a sugar topping and bake.

A thyme and ginger scented nectarine tart made with white and yellow nectarines. Click here for the recipe.

The nectarine tarts before baking.

An individual Rosemary Apple Tart. Click here for the recipe.

#3 

Mini Pie Triangles: These are made using phyllo dough and come together really fast making them perfect for last minute entertaining.

These Mini Pie Triangles are filled with apples and topped with a bit of cinnamon sugar. Click here for the recipe.

A Mini Apple Pie Triangle in progress. The secret to making these neat and tidy is cooking and cooling your fruit filling first before filling the phyllo dough. This way,  the juices are thickened and contained and won't run all over the place.

#4

Fruit Crumb Bars: Just about any fruit can be used to make these crowd pleasing and easy bar cookies.

A Rhubarb Berry Crumb Bar — Click here for the recipe.

The trick to making Fruit Crumb Bars easy to cut is to bake them in a pan lined with greased aluminum foil. That way you can lift the whole thing out of the pan after it's cooled and cut even-sized squares.

#5

Cobbler: This is always a hit at my house and a breeze to assemble, bake and serve.

Use whatever fruit is in season to make a delicious cobbler. I like to make cobbler for parties because it's easy to serve. I put out a stack of bowls and a quart of good vanilla ice cream next to the cobbler and say "help yourselves." Guests love it! Click here for the recipe.

Striving To Serve Healthy Food

Volunteer Zane did a wonderful job slicing all of the pork tenderloin that we served today.

Lean, oven-roasted pork tenderloin was a highlight of today's Wednesday Community Meal at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Alongside the pork, we served baked potatoes, roasted vegetables, slices of cold watermelon and soup, salad and dessert.

Dessert today was warm, just-baked cake that volunteers Ava and Quinn sliced and topped with chocolate and chopped peanuts.

High-quality proteins and fresh fruits and vegetables are expensive to buy and what's usually lacking in our guest's diets so that's what we always strive to serve at Trinity's weekly free meal.  Our guests are primarily the homeless but we also serve the elderly, the working poor and families.

For the meal, we utilize gleaned ingredients as much as possible and then compete the meal with ingredients generously purchased by Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

Lunch is served between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and everyone is welcome, no questions asked. All you have to do is show up and I promise you will be greeted, seated and served. We served 366 meals today.

Great Volunteers

We didn't have as many volunteers as usual at The Wednesday Community Meal today but it all worked out thanks to a small but great group of people. Together we served 405 meals during our two hour service.

Guests today were treated to entrees of roasted pork loin, turkey breast, enchiladas, salmon, baked potatoes topped with chili and cheese and pizza. There was also soup, salad and dessert. We had just enough food for everyone who came to our door.

During most of the service, there was a line to get inside and we were so busy that by the time our doors closed at 1 p.m.,  I realized I had forgotten to snap any photos. So, at the end of our service, I  asked a few of our hard working volunteers to pose for me...

Fred puts in more volunteer hours than anyone.  He organizes all of the gleaning for the meal and does much of the gleaning himself. He also attends all of the organizational meetings and manages the dining room. I love working with him.

Ava and Jack are fun and so capable. Ava was in charge of desserts today and Jack worked in the kitchen plating food.

Dan works with Dean each week serving coffee, hot chocolate and tea in the dining room. It's not easy work and keeps him on his feet for a solid two hours straight. He is a dedicated volunteer and I don't know what we'd do without him.

Chocolate Sheetcake

I needed to make a super-sized dessert to serve at the Wednesday Community Meal tomorrow and so I created this moist chocolate sheetcake. I love making sheetcakes because they come together quickly and because you serve them right from the pan, they are a breeze to frost since they require just a top coat.

I made a double batch of the recipe for my extra large 13 x 19 -pan and after the cake cooled, frosted it with buttercream that will be very hard to recreate.  I had some raspberry and salted caramel buttercreams in my freezer left over from making macarons, so I added to those to a package of cream cheese, a stick of unsalted butter, vanilla, a cup of cocoa powder and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and whipped it until it was smooth and creamy. My nephew who is my official taste tester said "oh, that's gooood," when he took a taste.

It's fun getting creative and using leftovers to make something special. And really, just about any frosting would be great with this easy cake.

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Sheetcake 
1 1/2 cups boiling water
3/4 cocoa powder
2 teaspoons espresso powder
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 large eggs

Grease and flour a 11 x 17 baking pan and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the water, cocoa powder and espresso powder until smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

In another medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt and set aside.

In a stand mixer, whip together the butter, sugars and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and whip after each addition until the mixture is smooth and well-combined.

Alternately add the flour and cocoa/water mixture in three additions, beating after each on low speed until blended.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the cake cool completely in the pan before frosting. Enjoy!