This post is part of the Doughvember series. Read on, for the giveaway of the week. In case you’re not caught up, Nicole from Pinch My Salt and I are raising awareness about sourdough baking throughout the month of November. If you want to participate, either make a starter (use Nicole’s handy instructions!) or revive your starter, and post, tweet or otherwise fling sourdough from the rooftops. If you’re the posse type, @ me on twitter and I’ll add you to the @saltyseattle/doughvember list. We’re using the hashtag #doughvember to aggregate our doughy coterie.

This dish is like Beef Wellington meets the Little House on the Prairie. Beef Wellington, in case the annals of history escape you at the moment, is that once-popular-amongst-the-1960’s-housewife-set-entree consisting of beef tenderloin coated in foie gras pate and mushrooms, then wrapped in puff pastry and baked. It seems to have fallen by the wayside just like all the good things about the 60’s that deserve reviving: bullet bra’s, Mad Men-style mid-day drinking, and Lilly Ann coats. Read more

sourdough crumb

*Update: If you’re up for participating in doughvember and you’re on twitter, tweet me and I’ll add you to the twitter list @saltyseattle/doughvember. You can follow along with other participants there as well as via hashtag #doughvember.

No blog is ever truly a food blog, is it? Sometimes life gets in the way and you have to share a little of your current situation- even if it’s really embarrassing- along with your recipe for Beef Wellington.

I have a big month planned. I’m headed to Santa Monica to speak at IFBC (you should come!) and to visit family and friends in the LA area. I’m also putting the finishing touches on a book proposal. I’ve upped my freelance writing work and have deadlines looming. Then there’s Thanksgiving and the promise I made to singlehandedly cook for 20+ people. Despite a jam-packed month, I also wanted to include a fun little project my beautiful co-host Nicole from Pinch My Salt and I are calling “Doughvember”. It’s a whole month dedicated to raising awareness about sourdough with the end goal being that those of us who participate will become better sourdough bakers. If you live in the US, imagine how good your rolls will be come Thanksgiving? Read more

As humans, we put a lot of things into our mouths. Stop and think for a moment: what has passed by your pearly whites on its way to your esophageal heaven today? I’ve had tea, several tiny French lavender mints, chicken, lettuce, aioli, San Pellegrino, focaccia, and some jelly-like candies that practically begged me to let them make out with my tonsils. It’s only 2:00 pm. Multiply that by the additional hours in the day by the days in a year by the years in my life, and that is a lot of food.

Does this make me an expert? Yes, yes it does. When it comes to eating, I take double black diamonds. When it comes to snowboarding, I stick to singles. I’m sure you’re realizing about right now that this makes you an expert too. We have this in common. We are expert eaters. With discerning palates. We could be celebrity judges if there were a show called Dancing with the Food. Read more