Ward 6 in St. Paul - You have to try this place!

A few weeks ago Dave and I visited Ward 6 for a Sunday lunch.  They were serving their brunch menu at the time.  We really were more in the mood for lunch but we decided to stay anyway.  There was a wait.  The place was full and there was a line, but we were still seated pretty quickly.

As luck would have it, there were burgers on the brunch menu.  I had the spicy black bean burger, Dave had a "regular" burger.  I say regular because this burger was a locally sourced, grass fed beef burger, not some pre-made, who knows where it came from burger.  Both burgers were amazing.  The veggie burger was the best I've had.  It had a good bit of spice and was filled with beans and vegetables, not just rice like some are.  It was as good or better than those delicious black bean burgers I used to get at Mill City Cafe in Minneapolis before they closed forever.  Dave's burger was equally delicious, hand-pattied and perfectly cooked.  And the fries!  Did I mention the fries?  Hand cut, perfectly fried fries accompanied these burgers.

Dave, of course, had a beer.  I had a Spanish Tempranillo that paired perfectly with my spicy burger.

The place was hopping with a constant line at the door but the service was still excellent so we decided we had to go back for dinner one evening.  That evening was last night.

I had visited family in Wisconsin and returned home last night.  I was too pooped to cook after the long drive so I called Dave from Hudson and said "how about Ward 6 for dinner tonight".  His response "oh that sounds good."  It was decided.

When we got there the place was packed.  I mean packed.  Every table seated, many people waiting, folks at the bar were two deep.  The wait was about 45 minutes.  We knew it was worth it.  So did others that came in after us.

Even families with small children didn't even blink at the wait.  Apparently the word is out!  For those of you with small children, not only is there a kids menu, but there is a big box of Goldfish crackers behind the bar and the little ones get a little cup of them while they wait for their table.  Everyone is taken care of here.

Ward 6 is not a large place.  It's a cozy venue that I believe was once the tap room for the Hamm's brewery.  The building dates back to 1885 and the bar is hand-carved and was added by the Hamm’s Brewery in 1903.  We've yet to get a good look at it because both times we've been to Ward 6 it's been crazy busy.

The wait staff had to bob and weave between tables and waiting guests, excuse me, pardon me, can I just get behind you here.  They helped each other clear tables and passed dirty dishes back like a fire line through the crowded restaurant.  All of the staff was in a great mood and took all of this in stride.  

We overheard Bob say "that darn paper" while we were waiting for our table.  I'm sure he was referencing the numerous fabulous reviews the restaurant (I mean bar with good food) was getting and I'm also quite sure he was joking.  Sorry, Bob, I have to tell people about you too!

We waited about 30 minutes for a table which we didn't think was that bad for 6:00 on a Saturday night.  Even though there was a constant stream through the door, I don't think anyone really waited the full 45 minutes to get seated.  Our waitress, Michelle was outstanding.  The table next to ours was seated at the same time we were.  It was wobbly.  The guests at the table were perfectly OK with the wobbly table but Michelle insisted on fixing it and she did so with great humor.

We love that the menu has "Food for Drinking."

 
We had a very difficult time deciding what to order.  So many things on the menu sounded so good!  We knew the burgers were good, maybe we'll just get those again?  But wait, look at the description of the Fish and Chips!

We'd seen the chicken dinner come to several tables while we were waiting.  It looked amazing and people were raving about it.

Then there was the pot roast sandwich with blue cheese sauce on ciabatta bread.  That sounded very good to me.

But wait, there's a grilled camembert sandwich.  It is a grilled cheese sandwich with pears, walnut butter and arugula on sourdough.  Maybe I want that?!

And what's this Cicero stew?  I asked Michelle why it was called Cicero stew and she didn't know the origin of the Cicero part.  Later in the evening I stopped Bob and asked him.  His partner in the restaurant, Eric Foster, used to teach Latin.  Apparently Cicero is Latin for chickpea!  All these years as a Cicero and I didn't know that.  Dinner and an education!
 

 

So we asked Michelle for some help with our decisions.  She admitted they were all delicious but she really liked the fish and her description of the pot roast sandwich sealed my decision!  Dave ordered the chicken dinner, then changed his mind to the post roast sandwich, then changed his mind to the fish!

While we were waiting for our dinners to arrive, burgers arrived at the table next to us.  The bacon smelled so good!  Maybe we should have gotten burgers.... 

We watched the hustle and bustle of the restaurant.  The staff was buzzing around like bees helping each other out and we never felt that we were left for too long without being checked on.

It took less than 15 minutes for our meals to arrive.  I'm amazed at the efficiency coming out of such a tiny (you can see it from the restaurant) kitchen!  Both meals were piping hot and perfectly plated.

Dave's fish came with what was called "malt vinegar mayo" on the menu but it was decidedly garlic flavored, roasted garlic more than fresh.  It was delicious and yes, I "borrowed" some for a few bites of my sandwich.  

The beef on my sandwich was tender, juicy and had great beef flavor and the blue cheese sauce was amazing.  It was smooth and creamy and had great blue cheese flavor without being overpowering.

Both sandwiches came with a portion of hand-cut fries, perfectly fried to golden brown, soft in the middle, with just enough salt.  

While we were waiting to be seated we saw several orders of beignets come out.  I've never had a beignet so we decided to try them.  I have to disagree with Mr. Buffet.  I don't think they are too much sugar and dough.  I like them!  They may have been helped out by the delicious dark chocolate sauce and creamy soft serve vanilla ice cream with which they were served.
 

As we were leaving we had the chance to have just a little chat (the place was still hopping) with Bob.  He said they had wanted to open a bar with really good food and they ended up with a restaurant.  We asked when their slow night was and he just smiled and shook his head.  He said things slow down early on Sunday nights.

Those of you who know Dave and I know we like to sit at the bar.  That's where you'll find us at our favorite haunts like Joan's in the Park, San Pedro Cafe, Barker's, and of course the Officer's Club.  We really want to sit at the bar and chat with the staff and Dave really wants to get a good look at all those taps!

We will definitely be back.  I need to try that grilled cheese sandwich!

I can't say enough good things about Ward 6.  The venue is great, the staff is well-trained, friendly and knowledgeable, oh yea, and funny even when there isn't a second for them to breathe!  The food is amazing and they have a great beer and wine list.  There is a small parking lot behind the building and plenty of street parking available.

And for us, we love that there is such a great place so close to home.  I think we may become "regulars" at Ward 6.

My First Sourdough!

I've been curious about making sourdough bread for a long time.  I'll admit it was a bit intimidating.  You have to have a starter and you have to feed the starter, whatever that meant.  So I just bought sourdough.  It was easier.

Well, my friends at King Arthur Flour send me an email with a $10 coupon in it.  I couldn't let it expire, right?  I ordered the sourdough starter and waited patiently for it to arrive.

It arrived last Tuesday.  I read the directions.  Then thought maybe I should just go buy a loaf of sourdough!  The initial feeding of the starter is almost as bad as getting a new puppy!   It's not as loud or messy but it takes a lot of care and "feeding."

The first feeding required 8-12 hours.  Cool, I can do that overnight, right?  Oh wait, there's a second and a third required before I can actually use the starter!  Unfortunately for me I have not won the lottery and I need to go to work.  So I decided I would do that initial 8-12 hour feeding while I was at work, then I could do the second two and maybe not too far after my bed time it would be ready to go.  Oh wait... then you have to wait for the bread to rise, twice, then bake it.  Maybe I'll just go buy that loaf of sourdough!

Thanks again to King Arthur Flour I found a recipe for sourdough bread that called for allowing the sponge to sit overnight or up to 24 hours.  Perfect.  I could give it 24 hours!  I had a plan, and it no longer included heading to the store for a loaf of sourdough bread.

Here's the cute little container of starter from KAF.  It wants to be fed.

The first feeding is a little water and a little flour and let it sit for 8-12 hours.  It is supposed to be at 68-70 degrees F.  We don't keep our house nearly that warm normally but I didn't want this to flop considering the time it was going to take so I set the thermostat to hold at 68 and went to work.  This was Wednesday morning.

When I got home, I gave my starter another feeding of a little flour and water.  This time it had to sit for 2-4 hours or until it started to show bubbles again.  Lucky for me it didn't take the entire 4 hours!  At this point you split the starter in half and either give half away or throw it away.

While I was looking for a good bread recipe, I found a recipe for sourdough popovers that called for fed or unfed starter.  So I kept the other half and decided to use it for popovers the following weekend.

The half that isn't given or thrown away is then fed again with a little more water and a little more flour.  After another 2-4 hours the starter can be used or refrigerated.  I wanted to use it!

 

 

The recipe I found for sourdough bread was also from King Arthur Flour.  It's called Merlin's Magic Sourdough bread and it seemed to be very forgiving to timing of rises, specifically you could go over the suggested times without ruining the dough!

In a large bowl, you mix together the starter, water, yeast and vital wheat gluten (which I actually stock in my pantry!).  To this you add 3 cups of flour and cover the mixture with a damp towel.  This "sponge" can sit overnight or for as long as 24 hours.  According to the recipe, the longer it rests, the more sour your final bread will be.  Sounded good to me!  Goodnight, see you Thursday morning!

When I got home from work on Thursday, I added the salt, oil and more flour to the sponge so that it made a dough.  This has to rise for 2 hours.  Time to walk the dogs!

 

 

Two hours later you punch the dough down.  I was a little worried, there wasn't much to punch.  I'm used to really deflating a dough during a punch down.  Oh well, I had to much invested at this point to give up.  I divided the dough in half, made two loaves and let them rise.  Again, the recipe suggests an hour, but more is ok.  Thursday night is yoga night so off I went to yoga, not worried that my dough would rise for too long!

 

Finally!  Time to put the dough in the oven.  I slashed the dough and placed it in my oven with my fingers and toes crossed, hoping a couple of good loaves of dough would come out.

About 20 minutes later I started to smell it!  And a little over half an hour later it was done!

Now the hardest part of all, waiting for it to cool!  Now at this point it's 9:30 or so at night.  My alarm clock goes off at 4:15.  This is late for me!  I was able to wait until about 10 and then I had to try it.  Was it going to taste like sourdough?

Whew!  Yes, it tasted like sourdough!  It wasn't as sour as I expected with all the resting my dough did, but it was definitely sourdough!  I did it!  I made sourdough!

On Friday when I got home from work I tried another piece.  Amazingly it was even better.  Maybe I was too tired the night before?  But I think the flavors just develop more as the dough cools.  This is good bread!

On Saturday afternoon we finally got to enjoy it in a sandwich.  I made a smoked turkey and Mona Lisa Gouda panini.  My husband wanted a cold sandwich so he had roast beef.  We both agreed it was good bread.

 

Will I continue to feed my starter and use it?  I will.  At least for a while.  According to Michael Ruhlman (who was gracious enough to answer my sourdough newby Tweets) the starter will say good almost indefinitely in the refrigerator.  And I found out, thank you Michael C. Zusman, also on Twitter, that you can even freeze it as a backup if the one in your frig does go bad.

So I'm feeding my starter again this morning.  This will be a weekend thing until my starter goes bad or I give up on it.  I have a whole bunch more recipes I need to try!

Oh yea, and I did make those popovers! 

I mixed a little of the starter with eggs, flour, milk and butter.  Even though the recipe didn't call for it I let it rest 30 minutes.  My "regular" recipe (thank you Ruhlman's Twenty... you need to buy this book if you don't have it!) is rested for an hour but I had places to go this morning!

 

The recipe said to fill the popover pans and that it made 6 popovers.  My pans weren't quite full.  Not sure if this had an impact or not.  Like all popover recipes you start with a really hot oven, then after a few minutes you cool it down a little to finish the baking.

 

They looked beautiful and they had that distinctive popover aroma.  Do you feel the "but" coming?  But they weren't as big as my normal popovers and they were very doughy inside.  They tasted very good.  In fact, our lab who was given a little taste, liked them so much she started drooling.  She's not a drooler normally.

 

They smelled great and tasted good but both my husband and I thought "regular" popovers are better.

Seaweed isn't seaweed

Note to self, look at the quantity of a recipe before making it.

That out of the way, today I made a recipe from Tasting Table called Tuscan-Style Beans with Bacon and Kombu, adapted from Jesse Koide of Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco.

This recipe found its way into my inbox and it sounded so good.  It has some of my favorite ingredients like fennel, rosemary, garlic, sage, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (the rind even!) and, last but certainly not least, bacon!

It also had ingredients I'd never heard of like Kombu, which is dried Japanese kelp seaweed, and borlotti beans.  I couldn't find either of these in my local grocery store.  The recipe gave cannellini beans as an alternate to the borlotti. I could only find those in cans so I used great northern beans.

As for the Kombu, I thought seaweed is seaweed right?  Apparently I got that wrong.

Here's a link to the recipe:
Tuscan-Style Beans with Bacon and Kombu

This is a two-day recipe.  You start by soaking the seaweed for about 20 minutes.  The next step is to cut slices in the seaweed so it looks like a comb.  Um.  My seaweed turned into mush.  Here is where I figured seaweed wasn't just seaweed.  Oh well, we'll keep going anyway.

Beans are added to the seaweed and more water is added.  Go to bed.  They need to soak over night.

Next you strain the beans and transfer the kombu to a soup pot along with the smoky bacon (Chef Koide likes Neuske's too!).  Well, there wasn't much left of my seaweed but I scraped what I could off of the beans and put it in the pot with the bacon.  Ten cups of water are added to the seaweed and bacon and this is simmered for about 20 minutes or until it becomes cloudy.  Well, with my mess of seaweed my water was cloudy immediately so I just simmered 20 minutes!

What you really want is the bacon infused water so you have to strain the seaweed out.  I didn't have a colander with small enough holes so I had to use my handy Ruhlman towels to strain the bits of seaweed out.

The water smelled amazing!  It was bacon water!

Then the real fun started.  The bacon is browned in a little olive oil and to this onion, celery, fennel fronds, sage, by leaves, rosemary, garlic, red pepper and black pepper are added.  The aroma coming out of the pot was divine.  I could have just eaten this mixture!  Once these have cooked a little, 8 cups of the bacon water, a rind of parmesan and the beans are added to the pot and it is simmered until the beans are tender, about an hour and 15 minutes.

Each time I lifted the lid to stir the beans and make sure they were still covered in water I couldn't believe the aroma.  I'll admit when I was picking bits and pieces of seaweed out of my beans I thought about ditching the whole plan.  I'm so glad I didn't.

To serve just place some beans and broth in a bowl, sprinkle with flaky salt and shredded parmesan cheese.  I took a spoonful.  Then another.  Then I walked downstairs and made my husband try them.  With a look of surprise on his face he said "those are good".  Yes they are.  These beans would be a great side to just about anything or on their own with a good piece of crusty bread. 

Oh, and it makes 10 cups of beans.  That's a lot of beans.  You may want to half or quarter the recipe if you aren't feeding a crowd!

Kenwood Vineyards Bolognese

Those of you who know us, know Dave and I occasionally enjoy a glass of wine.  Ok, well more than occasionally.  We like wine and one of our favorite vineyards is Kenwood.  We've been wine club members there for 6 or 8 years now and with each shipment they send us recipes.  Many years ago now, I can't believe it took me this long to share the recipe, they sent this recipe for bolognese.

There are only two pasta sauces served in my house, this one when I want a meat sauce and my Grandmother's when we want a traditional red sauce. You will not be served a jarred sauce here.  Well, that's not entirely true.  If, by some horror of circumstances there is none of the aforementioned sauces in the house I will buy a jar of Mario Batali's arrabiata sauce.  It's very good and there's no sugar or additives or preservatives in it.

But today I made bolognese.  We got close to a foot of snow here in MN today.  Nothing much is moving.  Schools are all closed and I was off of work anyway so why not simmer some sauce?

Ingredients:
2 pounds extra lean ground beef
1 pound Italian sausage
2 medium onions, diced
1/2 cup fresh garlic, minced
3 cups diced green bell pepper
1 tablespoon whole fennel seeds
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 cups chopped tomatoes
4 cups tomato sauce
2 cups tomato paste
1 bottle red wine, suggested Kenwood Sonoma County Merlot
4 cups veal stock
2 Tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons fresh oregano

Directions:
Saute meat in sauce pan.  Add onions, garlic, bell pepper, spices and chili flakes.  Season with salt and pepper.

Add tomatoes and wine.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 2-3 hours.

Add stock and season again with salt and pepper.  Add herbs and turn off heat.

There's a bit of chopping with the peppers and onions.  Anyone interested in buying me a Christmas gift, I'd love onion goggles!  I chopped a lot of onions today.  Would have loved goggles!

 
I used good grass fed Highland beef from Butternut Woods Farm and sausage from my friends at Otis Family Farm. In season I would use fresh tomatoes but, well, it's the dead of winter so I used canned.  I really like the Muir Glen Fire Roasted Diced! 

 And when I'm not lazy I will chop up a half cup of garlic.  I've even been known to roast it then chop it up.  Today I was lazy and used jarred garlic. 

 Once the meat is well browned, the onions, peppers, garlic and spices are added.  I love cinnamon in pasta and pasta sauce.  The cheese ravioli filling my grandmother taught me to make has cinnamon in it.  It surprises everyone who tastes it, in a good way! 

 To this the tomatoes, tomoto sauce and tomato paste are added. 

 Then, the best part of this sauce, an entire bottle of merlot! 

This is simmered for a couple of hours.  The house always smells so good when I'm making sauce. Finally some veal stock (I've used beef stock when I can't find veal) and fresh herbs are added.

The recipe makes 7 quarts of sauce.  I pack this up in gallon zip top bags and freeze it.  When we are looking for a quick dinner I pull it out, heat it up and pour it over pasta.  When we're entertaining it makes an amazing lasagna or baked ziti.  Thank you Kenwood vineyards for a recipe that is now a staple in our home!

When Banana Bread Meets a Peanut Butter Cookie

Did you know that March 1st is National Peanut Butter Lover's Day?  Who comes up with the whole "this is national that day" calendar?  I'm obviously not on the distribution list because I usually find out it's National Wine Lover's Day at 9pm that night!

Noble Pig posted this recipe on March 1st.  I didn't get to it until today, March 5th.  I think that's ok though.

Today is a snow day here in Minnesota.  All of the schools are closed, several businesses, including the one for which my husband works, are closed.  I had planned today as a vacation day anyway, and as luck would have it, I had ripe bananas in the kitchen.

These are a snap to whip up.  Here is a link to the Noble Pig recipe:
Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

The recipe specifically stated "make sure to sift" so I sifted.  I generally ignore that instruction unless I'm warned of failure if I don't.  I sifted together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, soda, salt and cinnamon as instructed.

In another bowl I mashed my bananas and added milk, peanut butter, oil, egg and vanilla.

As with any good muffin recipe, add the wet to the dry and don't over mix!  Then add the chips.  I'm partial to Ghirardelli chips myself.  At this point I tasted the batter.  I know, raw egg, whatever.  It smelled so good!  And if the muffins tasted half as good as the batter these were going to be good muffins!

This is one of just a few recipes I've read that require spraying of muffin papers if you are using them.  Well, why waste the paper?  I just sprayed my muffin tins.  When I want to make sure nothing is going to stick I use this Wilton spray.  It is better than anything else out there.  If I have a shaped pan or something with lots of nooks and crannies, I use this spray and I am never disappointed.  No, they don't pay me.

Twenty minutes later they come out of the oven but you'll be smelling them well before that.  Is it banana bread that's baking?  Is it peanut butter cookies?  Smells like both!

These are so good.  They are incredibly moist and the banana flavor isn't completely overpowered by the peanut butter.  My coworkers are going to like me tomorrow!

A Better BLT

Everything is better with bacon.  Really, it's true!  And one of my favorite sandwiches is a BLT, especially in the summer when the tomatoes are fresh.  When I saw this recipe for Shrimp BLT sandwiches of course I had to try it.

I did modify it a little.  It's not a terribly complicated recipe for which a substitution could just plain ruin it.  It's a BLT!

The recipe that was the inspiration is from a blog I follow, Katie's Cucina.  Katie's recipe calls for a croissant.  I decided I would use my homemade hamburger buns. 

And Katie's recipe also calls for a Smoked Chipotle Aioli Sauce.  This sauce was so similar in ingredients to the chipotle-lime mayo I just love from Noble Pig, I decided to just use that.

Here is a link to the original recipe:
Shrimp BLT Croissant Sandwiches

The ingredients are pretty simple:

Shrimp
Old Bay Seasoning
Butter
Bread
Bacon
Lettuce
Tomato
Avocado or Guacamole (optional)
Chipotle Lime Mayo (or plain old mayo if you prefer)

Quantities are pretty simple too.  You will need enough shrimp for how every many sandwiches you want to make.  Pick a size, any size, large might be easier on a sandwich, I had small ones and they worked just fine.

You'll need buns of some sort, croissants, hamburger buns, ciabatta bread, whatever you like.

You'll also need enough bacon so that all the bacon lovers have enough on their sandwich. We love Neuske bacon!  I weave the bacon so there's bacon in every bite.  If you want to use my method you'll need three pieces per sandwich.

Enough butter lettuce and tomato slices for the number of sandwiches you are making.

And finally I really like a little spicy Wholly Guacamole and Chipotle Lime Mayo on mine!

If you want to try the chipotle lime mayo (you won't be disappointed) you'll need the following.  I got this recipe from the Noble Pig blog.  I use it on eggs, fish tacos, and now BLTs!

Make the chipotle-lime mayo:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 chipotle pepper in adobo, chopped
zest from 1/2 a lime
juice from 1/2 a lime

Mix all the ingredients together and set aside.

Make the bacon:
I like "bacon in every bite".  I found this neat trick in a Huffington Post article shared by Applegate Farms.

Cut bacon slices in half and weave them into a "bacon mat".  Place them on a broiler pan in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes.  I flip mine over half way through so they are nice and crispy on both sides.

 Make the shrimp:
Toss the shrimp in Old Bay Seasoning to taste.
Saute them up in a pan with a little cooking spray or butter or throw them on the grill!

Assemble the sandwich:
We like toasted buns so I toasted the buns.  Slather the bun with a little Wholly Guacamole.

Add a little chipotle-lime mayo.

Top that with bacon, then tomato, then shrimp and finally the lettuce.

Devour.  These were so good.  Great texture from the bacon and lettuce, creamy sauce and a perfect homemade bun.  We'll definitely be making these again!