BlogAid Cookbook

After the earthquake in Haiti, many of us felt sick at the heart, unable to move. Dear Julie Van Rosendaal started doing something.

Only a couple of days after the devastation, I received an email from Julie, as many of us did. "Frustrated that I couldn't do much to help, it occurred to me to do what I know, and use the resources I know, to make a bigger difference than I otherwise could. I know food, and recipes, and cookbooks - I know fantastic food writers and bloggers all over the world, I know food media, I have a wonderful, supportive audience. I could mobilize a larger group to make a bigger impact."

She asked us to help. Of course, we said yes.

Less than three weeks later, Julie made miracles happen.

* * *

With the help of a talented artist, printing partners West Canadian Graphics and Blurb, and mostly the indefatigable efforts of Julie Van Rosendaal, BlogAid the cookbook, was born.

Julie gathered 27 food writers from around the world to offer recipes, photographs, and stories. We all felt helpless in the face of Haiti's disaster. We gave the best we know how.

Besides a chocolate chip cookie recipe from me and Danny, this gorgeous cookbook also includes recipes from Chef Michael Smith, Dana McCauley, Emily Richards, Catharine from Weelicious, Cheryl from Backseat Gourmet, Jeannette of Everybody Likes Sandwiches, Nishta from Blue Jean Gourmet, Lauren of Celiac Teen, Charmian from Christie's Corner, Shaina from Food for my Family, Marisa of Food in Jars, Lauren from Healthy Delicious, Alice from Savory Sweet Life, Tara from Seven Spoons, Jess of Sweet Amandine, Helen from Tartelette, Gail from The Pink Peppercorn, Pierre of Kitchen Scraps, Tim from Lottie and Doof, Tea from Tea & Cookies, Jamie from My Baking Addiction, Lori from Recipe Girl, Melissa from The Traveler's Lunchbox, Brooke of Tongue-n-Cheeky and Aimee of Under the High Chair.

This beautiful 110-page cookbook came together so quickly that it makes my head spin. You might think, therefore, that it would be a little wonky. Well-intentioned but mimeographed and stapled crookedly like a PTA cookbook. Nope.

It's a stunning book.

If you click on this link, you can see a preview of the book. (Choose hardcover or softcover. Either one will offer you a preview.) It's such a beautiful book.

There's more. This is almost even more stunning.

The good folks at West Canadian Graphics and Blurb are so moved by this project that they are matching the dollar amount of the proceeds raised up to $10,000. On top of that, the Canadian government will match the total amount of money raised until February 12th.

All profits for the book will help the Haiti relief fund via the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders.

That means you need to buy a book now, if you can.

We all do what we can.

Blog Aid - Rec...

Hardcover

By Various

Book Preview

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gluten-free crusty boule

If you don't want to eat this bread, I'm going to have to check your pulse.

This is gluten-free.



I wrote the sentences for this piece in my head, long before today. However, they have all disappeared in a haze of too-much coffee, too-little sleep, notes scrawled in orange marker, and a darling toddler interrupting it all (thank goodness).

The final copyedits for our cookbook were due today. We made the deadline, panting as we passed them over. (Well, metaphorically. We just pressed the send button together.) This photograph above? That has been my life the last few days. (Including the fact that I made recipe notes with Little Bean's crayons one afternoon.)

For the record, we're beaming. We really love our book. We think you will too.

However, the sentences I sang for days, celebrating the fact I could show you this bread? They've all disappeared.

And you are probably thinking: Shauna, that's okay. Just tell me how to make this bread.



Well okay, then.

This bread recipe comes from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, the wonderful new book from Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francois. Don't know their names? You know their other book, I'm sure: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Almost everyone I know who can eat gluten makes bread out of that book. They all rave. The rest of us were left to feel sad, shunted off to the side again.

No more. Jeff and Zoë have published a second book, intended to be more healthy (whole grains, dried fruits, etc.). There's one chapter that makes the price of this book worth it for everyone reading who has to eat gluten-free: "Gluten-Free Bread and Pastries."

Jeff and Zoë are professionals, bakers who understand bread. And they gave their attention to us gluten-free folks.

That's right. Gluten-free olive oil bread. Gluten-free pizza. Gluten-free sesame baguette. Gluten-free cheddar and sesame bread. Crackers. Bread sticks. And brioche.

Plus, with the brioche recipe, you can make most of the pastries in the last chapter. That means apple strudel bread, doughnuts, sticky buns, cinnamon crescent rolls, and fruit-filled pinwheels.

Do you need me to write anything at all before you buy this book? Oh, just this.

They're good. May I direct your attention to the photo on top of this post again? That's the gluten-free boule from the book. Exactly as written.

It makes a lovely sandwich bread too.

And we made gluten-free naan the other day, with our friends Matt and Danika, and we all loved the way they puffed up and tasted.

Really, do you need more?



Does the fact that you can bake this bread as an enormous rosemary-kalamata olive loaf persuade you at all?

Look deep into the space between the two halves of the crust (I cut my pre-baking slices too deep. Normally, you don't get a crevasse like that). See those elastic strands, pulling as though in slow motion? Those look like gluten strands in bread.

Yep. This bread tastes like the real thing too.



See that crumb? Do you want a bite? You can have one, soon.

The recipe is right below this next photo.

Now, normally, I don't publish a recipe as it's written in a book, or even close to it. Danny and I both respect and adore the people who work hard to create cookbooks. We think you should buy the cookbook itself to get the best recipes.

But here, we'll make an exception. You see, Jeff and Zoë already have the recipe published on their website, so we don't think they'll mind. Besides, there are at least a dozen other gluten-free recipes in the book that you will want to make. Giving you this one won't ruin your purchase.

And finally, we actually helped Jeff and Zoë develop this bread. We were honored to test their original recipe for them. We were nervous about telling them it wasn't very good. We were happy to offer a dozen suggestions about flours and techniques to make the recipe great. And we are thrilled with the final bread.

(You'll see that the bread recipe in our book has a similar structure, but other flours and different ingredients. Start making this recipe now and you'll be prepared for the next loaf by fall.)

So, since we had a hand in this recipe, we think it's fitting to offer it to you here.

Bread, people. It's real bread.

And, we're giving away a free copy of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day to one commenter on this post. Just tell us something you have learned about gluten-free baking through your experiences. I know we can all learn from each other.




Gluten-Free Crusty Rosemary and Kalamata Olive Bread, adapted from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francois

I loved the rosemary loaf made by Essential Bakery in Seattle. My dear friend Gabe and I both loved it so much we used to leave it in each other's mailboxes as a present when the other was having a bad day. And I seemed to live on the olive loaf from Macrina Bakery in Seattle, just before I found out I had celiac.

I've missed both those breads. So I put them together and made this.

Now, go forth and bake.

1 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup sorghum flour
1 1/2 cups tapioca flour
1 tablespoon granulated active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon xanthan gum
1 1/3 cups lukewarm water (heated to 110°F)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons canola oil
1 tablespoon honey
2 handfuls kalamata olives, sliced
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, taken off the stem and finely chopped
olive oil
coarse sea salt

Mixing the flours. Mix together the brown rice flour, sorghum flour, tapioca flour, yeast, salt, and xanthan gum in the bowl of your stand mixer (or a large bowl, if you are doing this by hand).

Making the dough. Add the water, eggs, oil, and honey to the dry ingredients. Mix with the paddle attachment (or with a large spoon if you are mixing by hand) for a few moments until the dough has fully come together. It will be soft. It will sort of slump off the paddle. Don't worry. That's the right texture. Add the olives and rosemary and mix one more time.

Letting the dough rise. Put the dough in a large, clean bowl and cover it with a clean towel. Put the dough in a warm place in your kitchen, then leave it alone to rise about 2 hours.

You can now use the dough. Or, you can refrigerate it in a large container with a lid. The dough stays good for a week. Refrigeration overnight does seem to improve the flavor, as well.

Baking the bread. Shape 1 pound of the dough into a squat oval shape or small ball. Sometimes, wetting your hands helps if the dough feels too sticky. Let the dough rest for 40 minutes. (If you are pulling the dough out of the refrigerator, let it rest for 1 1/2 hours before baking it.)

Half an hour before you will put the bread into the oven to bake, turn on the oven to 450°.

(Now we slide a Dutch oven in there to heat up. Jeff and Zoë recommend a pizza stone in the oven and a pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal for resting the bread. Please make sure both are never before used, if you are gluten-free.)

Before baking, make 1/4-inch-deep cuts with a serrated knife to the top of the dough. Pour on a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

Put the dough into the Dutch oven, cover, and return it to the hot oven. (Or, slide the loaf from the pizza peel onto the hot baking stone.) Close the oven door and bake the bread until the top has lightly browned and the bread feels firm, about 35 minutes. (Also, the internal temperature of the bread should be at least 180°.)

You can put a large sauté pan filled with ice cubes on the rack below the one that holds the baking bread. This will create steam in the oven and help to form that golden crust.

Take the bread out of the oven and let it cool at least 15 minutes before slicing. (I know. But really, you have to do this.)

Eat. Enjoy.

Makes 2, 1-pound loaves.

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making mayonnaise

We finished the United Way Hunger Action Week yesterday. We were never hungry. Instead, we feel humbled.

If you have not read the piece I posted about why we did this, please do. Mostly, I want you to read the comments. People, you amaze us every time. Your generosity in sharing your stories, your tips on how you eat well on a moderate budget, and your interest in each other's shopping habits enlivened our week. I have a feeling that everyone who read and wrote had lively conversations afterward. We did.

There are so many comments that inspired me. Truly, I could just put them all up as a separate post. But I'd like to share this one, from someone who calls herself Cyclist Kate:

"What's been wonderful for me to realize is that often, the less I spend on groceries (now, I'm not talking uber cheap, necessarily, but $60/week for myself), the more satisfied I am. I think it's because the food thing becomes simpler...I can enjoy those roasted potatoes and brussels sprouts, the black bean soup, the yogurt and homemade granola, and an apple with that precious slice of parmesan so much more if that's all I have. There's less stress, less wondering "what's for dinner." There's less waste. And it's all good, wholesome stuff that reconnects me to what's so great food whose aim is to deeply nourish instead of impress.

So yes, I've taken to frequently taking the calculator to the grocery store. Sometimes that means taking the parmesan out of my cart, but then I appreciate it so much more the next week. There's no deprivation. There's always something to eat. And for that, I'm grateful."

This is exactly how I felt (and continue to feel) after I had to go gluten-free. No deprivation. Instead, gratitude that I could eat what was available to me. Now, the same principle applies to spending money on that food.

Danny and I had the experience that Kate so eloquently described: calm. We knew we had enough food to last us for the five days, even if it wasn't the most exciting food we have ever eaten. In fact, there was calm in sitting down to a meal of tacos with brown rice cooked in chicken stock, slivered savoy cabbage, cheddar cheese, and home-pickled radishes. That was a nourishing meal. Knowing our ingredients in advance helped us to make that meal without any frantic energy. ("Hon, it's 4. What are we having for dinner tonight? We need to feed the Bean in an hour.") Those tacos satisfied us.

And to our amazement, we didn't run out of money. We spent $12 more than we did the first day, on more yogurt for the kid, a big clutch of vegetables from the farmstands, and a cup of coffee Danny picked up for himself when he was out with the Bean. We still have lots of brown rice, cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, and other foods left over for this week.

We have been changed by this.

We have been spending too much money on food. We knew this before. However, we did not know, until after this week, that we would prefer having less food in the house, food that we use instead of letting it wilt and go to waste.

And so, this week, we might spend a bit more money on food than we did this past week, but not much. We're going to plan much better now. The refrigerator is clean, we have a list of everything in it, and we're ready to start thinking about the meals ahead of us.

Something that always kept us from planning out our week's meals (and thus the shopping) was the rigidity of knowing we would eat lasagna on Thursday. That doesn't work for us, when we feel such joy from making up dishes and sprinkling in new spices that surprise us. We just don't like moving lockstep through our meals.

Now that Danny is back to cooking in a restaurant, he's making up specials every night. He knows, every afternoon, that he has to create a fish special. Each night, it's something different. That structure creates freedom for him.

That's what clicked for me. Instead of planning our meals in advance, I'm going to create a different special every night of the week.
Sunday is roast chicken night (lots of leftover possibilities there).
Monday is pasta night (we love the homemade pasta recipe that will be in our book).
Tuesday is vegetarian night (and some of the other nights might not include meat either). Wednesday is pizza night.
Thursday will feature pork (you know, we have that other blog).
Friday is Mexican night (or maybe Thai. We haven't decided).
Saturday is seafood.

Knowing us, we'll never have the same dish twice. But if I know that every Wednesday I'm making a pizza from scratch, I will have all the basic ingredients already in the house. (I think this week it's going to be a roasted butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and sauteed leek pizza, since those are all in the farmstands right now, and perhaps some homemade creme fraiche). We'll save money and feel even more creative.

I'm excited.

Something that many of you wrote about (and we already believed in) is how much money a family can save by making foods from scratch. And how.

So, we'd like to share with you a video of Danny making mayonnaise from scratch. Once you start making this, you'll never go back.





This is Danny. He has a real restaurant burn on his hand, which he didn't cover because he's at home (be not afraid). We were distracted and went too fast the first time we filmed this, so the mayonnaise separated and we started again. That's why the food processor looks not washed. You'll see at one point that he's pouring a liquid in, thicker than oil — that's the separated mayonnaise he is incorporating back in (see recipe below). He drops an eggshell into the bowl.

It's real life.

And it's mayonnaise.

HOMEMADE MAYONNAISE

1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 cup canola oil
½ teaspoon each, kosher salt and cracked black pepper


Making the mayonnaise. Place the egg, egg yolk, mustard, and lemon juice in the food processor. (You can make mayonnaise by hand, but it is much easier and more fail-safe in the food processor. Trust me.) While the machine is running, slowly drizzle in the oil, until it is thick and creamy. Add salt and pepper.

Fixing your mistakes. If you add the oil too fast, the mayonnaise will separate, so go slowly, slowly, slowly. If it does separate, take the mixture out of the food processor, and start over. Put another egg and egg yolk into the food processor and blend them. Slowly, slowly add the separated mayonnaise. That should do the trick.

Makes 2 cups.

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eating on $18 a day

We're pretty blessed around here. We know that. We may drive a 16-year-old car and buy our clothes at the island thrift store, but we feel rich with experiences and the community we have created.

Danny has a cooking job he loves on the island where we live.
Little Bean and I bake together nearly every day, blending gluten-free flours into something that becomes wonderful (or not).
We're working hard all week on the final copy edits of our cookbook.

There's no complaining here.

Lately, however, we have been worrying about money, for various reasons. We're a freelance writer and a chef, in this economy. Everyone is cutting corners, right? Also, we spend too much money on food. It's our work, we tell ourselves, as we drive to the grocery store again to pick up eggs for baking and leave with a full bag of foods we find inspiring. We really should stop.

Here is our chance to learn.

This week is the King County United Way's Hunger Action Week. From January 25th to the 29th (today through Friday), many of us food bloggers will be living on a bare minimum of food money each day, equal to the maximum food assistance available to an individual living in Washington state.

Here, in King County, that's $7 a day.

For a family of three, the maximum allowed is $18 a day.

That's a heck of a lot less than we have been spending.

As little as that sounds, there are people who are living on far less. I started talking about this on the Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef Facebook page, as well as my profile page on Facebook. The conversation has been inspiring. Here's some of what you have been saying:

"I feed a family of 11 on $250 bi-weekly...That's $17.85 a day for the whole family... and we eat well!! Organic beef, organic chicken, organic home-canned veggies, home-canned fruits (organic when I can get them) and organic flours... 2 children do receive WIC (adopted foster kids) but that's it, no other "services"... Buy in bulk, buy local, buy in season... and then can, can, can!!! We also belong to a food co-op that offers all organic or all-natural foods in bulk." (Christie Siefer)

"Every now and then you buy a special ingredient until you have enough to make something. But the staples are rice and potatoes, not bread or baked or convenience foods. If you have a good blender you can make your own rice flour for a LOT cheaper." (Cassie McFadden)

"I often buy onions and carrots at Costco to bulk up our meals. Lots of vegetable soups from seasonal and (on sale) frozen veggies. And beans, lentils, and more beans. I haven't tried making my own flours, because I can get organic brown rice flour in bulk (25# bags) for about $1 a pound, which I think is about the same as the rice? We use a fair amount of masa and cornmeal too, because it is more affordable than many flours, and easy to find." (Laura Austin)

"That's pretty much it: 'Buy in bulk, buy local, buy in season... and then can, can, can!!!' I also do hit the asian markets, and mexican groceries for GF flours on the cheap. Using every part of our meat and making stock from scratch in the crock pot helps too. And I only use homemade almond milk for baking or cooking now, instead of the store bought stuff, that's been a huge boon." (Bailey Witwer)

"We feed a family of 3 a gluten/corn/dairy/soy/MSG/beef free diet for about $100 per week. Costco bags of potatoes, rice, beans, frozen & fresh fruit & veggies, etc help us stretch our food budget." (Michelle Forsman)

Come join the conversation. Clearly, we have much to learn from each other.



We're not trying to pretend we are homeless around here. We're not trying to go hungry. We're certainly not going to deprive Little Bean to prove a point.

Yesterday, we talked for a couple of hours about how we eat, and what we could buy as staples for the week. We decided to buy as little food in packages as possible, something we naturally do anyway. (There goes the occasional small bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, which we seem to fall into once a month when we're in the city and at a gas station.)

We're out of smoked paprika, which I love, but we didn't buy any.

We kept our shopping trip to whole grains, healthy proteins, the staple produce we always have in the house, and some good fats (particularly for Little Bean. kids under 2 need lots of good fats for their development).

Here's what we bought:

brown rice (short grain, in bulk)
corn tortillas (we got about 100 in this package; buying the bigger package was definitely a deal)
a bag of puffed millet cereal (only $1.99. the sugar cereals were much more expensive)

carrots
onions
celery (these three are always in our house. they make up mirepoix, the aromatic vegetables for homemade stock. each has other vital uses as well)
parsnips (it's winter. we love roasted root vegetables)
apples (Little Bean loves these. plus, they go great with pork. something for dessert)
russet potatoes (a five-pound bag cost an insane 72 cents!)

whole chicken (it's SO much more economical to break down a chicken than buy parts)
brown lentils (I love French du puy lentils, but these are cheap as dirt. and good.)
pork shoulder (with a big cut, we can make several meals)
eggs (best inexpensive protein there is)
bacon (not only for breakfast, but a bit of rendered bacon makes flavoring for other foods)
cheddar cheese (quesadillas; tacos; snacks for Little Bean)
whole milk yogurt, organic (our kid could eat her weight in this)

lactose-free milk for Danny (he doesn't do well with milk. this is expensive. for his coffee)
soy milk for Little Bean (she doesn't do well with milk either. takes after her papa.)

canola oil (olive oil is great, but this is more useful)
salt
pepper (the challenge says we don't have to count these, but we did)
butter (for Little Bean's veggies and flavoring)
1/2 pound of coffee beans (we cannot survive without it)

We had a big bag of frozen blueberries in the freezer, so we decided to add the price of those into the total. Little Bean loves them, especially in smoothies with yogurt. We also added the price of a small package of raisins, one of her favorite treats.

Our total for the week so far? $72.37.

That leaves us with $15.63 until Friday. We are saving that — in cash — for daily purchases of vegetables and fruit at our local farmstands. Another tub of yogurt. Or, possibly more coffee.

What is not on that list? Chocolate. Seafood. Quinoa. Goat's milk powder. Sugar or any kind of sweetener. Almond flour. These are, normally, a regular purchase for us.

We decided not to eat any homemade baked goods this week, even though we have plenty of flours in the cupboard. We want to spend what little money we have left on produce and more protein, if we need it. Gluten-free flours can be expensive.

(Full disclosure here: we are baking this week. The copy edits for our cookbook are due back to the publishers on Monday. We don't want to send this to print without every recipe being right. However, after one taste to make sure the baked goods are great, we're freezing them for next week, or Danny is taking them to work to give to his co-workers.

We actually get all our flours through Amazon, from the small amount of money that comes to us each month through this website. Did you know that? If you click on this link of gluten-free groceries on Amazon (a good way to save money — buying in bulk) and buy something, we get a tiny portion of the price for being associates. That's true for anything you buy on Amazon. We almost always use that monthly sum to buy more flours and xanthan gum. Otherwise, I could not bake every day, testing recipe for this site. So, if you want to see more recipes here, feel free to shop.)

This means we are not having dessert, other than apples and raisins. We're not eating out. We're not sampling food from other people. We're going to do this as best we can.

So far, so good. Danny braised the pork shoulder with rosemary and thyme (we still have them growing in our garden), homemade chicken stock, apples, onions, garlic, and salt and pepper. After ten hours in the slow cooker, it smells fantastic. (In fact, I have to stop writing so I can eat.)

We'll have the leftovers of that tomorrow night, over brown rice with roasted carrots and parsnips. Danny will make a sauce by reducing the braising liquid. (We'll eat the last third of the tw0-pound roast as tacos for the next day.) The next night, we'll roast the chicken, using Thomas Keller's stunning method, which only requires salt and oil. (This is how I roast a chicken now, no matter what kinds of spices we have in the pantry.) We'll eat the roasted chicken legs and wings, with baked potato fries with cheddar cheese. After that, we'll enjoy the roasted chicken breasts sliced up over brown rice, again with roasted vegetables, or mashed potatoes, and maybe a salad with vegetables from the farmstand. On Friday night, we're having a lentil soup made with homemade chicken stock.

For breakfasts? Eggs and bacon. Warm rice with milk. Millet cereal. Yogurt and blueberries. Lunches? Quesadillas. Lentils cooked with onions, garlic, and bacon. Sauteed veggies with poached eggs on top. Snacks? Carrots. Apples. Yogurt and cereal with raisins. Roasted kale.

Actually, I'm really excited about this week. We're going to eat well. It will be plain food, no enticing ingredients or unexpected tastes. That's okay. We have enough to eat.

Besides, we could all use the reminder. After all....






There has been a 17% increase in people using food banks in the last year in King County.

According to the Seattle Times in December, “In the past two years… the number of people in Washington state receiving food stamps has soared by nearly 60 percent, about twice the national increase…. In October, a record 12.8 percent of the state's population — about 855,000 people — were on food stamps."

A 2009 USDA report revealed that 47 million Americans are “food insecure." 1 in every 7 Americans don’t have enough to eat.

The food insecurity is not just in this country, either. Someone from the UK left this on the Facebook page:

"On the UK news this morning, severe poverty was defined as having less than £20GBP ($32USD) per week to feed a family of 4. Figures show that 13% of children in England live in this level of extreme poverty."

Anyone who has enough food to write a food blog, or enough time to read a food blog, is pretty damned lucky. This week, we know that even more clearly than before.

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Friday island photos: the restaurant

The island where we live doesn't have any stoplights. Most of the roads curve open, unfettered by slowing traffic or stop signs. You can drive by the water and feel like you are in the only car on the island.

When you're in ferry traffic, coming down from the north end into town, however, you know you are not alone.

In the middle of town — about 5 streets long and 3 streets wide — sits the only four-way intersection on the island. This is as close to a traffic jam as we come.

On the southwest corner of that intersection, right smack dab in the middle of the island, is this building. It has sat there since 1890. (On the West Coast of the United States, that's pretty old.) One way or another, the building has displayed that sign: "Today's special. So's tomorrow."

When I lived on this island in the 1990s, teaching high school, the building contained an old hardware store. In fact, when I lived here it was sort of a hardware store museum, with creaky floors, dusty windows, and a giant train set in the middle. I loved going in there, even though there wasn't much point to the building anymore. It was a slice of time, gone by.



Now, it's a restaurant.

It's a homey restaurant, with no pretensions of changing the face of gastronomy or winning rave reviews from national publications. The people who run this restaurant want to serve "great good food."

They do.



When you walk in, you feel warmth, right away. Wooden tables, worn rugs, high ceilings, and little sprigs of flowers on the table — this place feels comfortable.

This is one of the main island hangouts. If you want to meet people for fish tacos after the softball game has finished, you come here. If you're feeling hungry after the farmers' market, but you don't want to go home to cook the produce yet, you stop in here with friends for steamed manila clams. (Sometimes, you see your favorite farmer in the booth next to yours.) If it's in the middle of the holidays, and you don't want to cook one more meal for your family, you come in out of the rain for grilled pork tenderloin.

It's an island place.



And in the back, along the long hallway, are paintings and photographs by island artists. It's an art gallery and gathering space, both.



When I was there the other day, taking photographs, the sun emerged from behind the clouds for the first time all afternoon. That sun splash is what the restaurant feels like to me. I just want to sit in the booth with friends, sharing a plate of chickpea ragout, holding my hands around a hot cup of coffee.



This restaurant isn't a diner, though. It's more than that. It's something special.

As the writer of this piece in Seattle Metropolitan wrote: "Everything, cracker-bread pizzas to lavish salads to the signature buttermilk fried chicken, is brought off with more vibrancy and exactitude than captive island audiences can typically expect, and the fizzy ambient spirit of the place is simply irresistible."

Friends from the city who have been to this restaurant almost always say: "That place? Oh, I love that place."



There's a pretty decent wine selection.



Everything in the place is made from scratch: the chicken stock, plus all the soups and sauces. That's balsamic, oil, and herbes de provence for the bread plates. (I don't have that, of course.)



The burgers look so damned good. (I have it on good authority that they are.)

This poor couple. Their burgers had just arrived, and they were about to dig in, and I asked if I could take a photograph. That light. The height on those burgers. That pile of fries.

If I can't eat it, I can take a photograph of it. (And then I told them to ignore me and eat.)



I can't eat these, either. But oh my, if I could eat gluten, I would want a piece of that pie. All the baked goods in the restaurant are handmade by staff, including doughnuts every day.

There aren't many times I wish I could eat gluten. Standing in front of that rack would be one of them.



However, the clam chowder is gluten-free, which is unusual. I hear this soup's so good they might be selling it commercially soon. On a cold, high-skied winter day, a bowl of this is just what you want.



Recently, the food at this restaurant has taken a turn for the better. The daily specials are vibrant, in season, something pretty special.

This is the vegetarian special: an island-grown white acorn squash (peeled and roasted), with quinoa, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, parsnips, and a curry vinaigrette.

It's gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, and meat-free. The restaurant is serving it through the month of January. Next month, there will be another one.

Who's making this food?



Why, it's Danny! Danny's making this food.

You see, Danny has returned to a life he loves: working in a restaurant kitchen. Fate and good fortune brought him to his place, the best restaurant on the island. He had gone more than a year without being a professional chef, home instead with me and the Bean, working on our cookbook and making elaborate breakfasts for us all.

Eventually, he missed the excitement of dinner service, the urgency and rush of putting food on a plate, the camraderie with other cooks, and the chance to give joy in the belly to people besides me and our daughter.

I couldn't be happier for him.

And for you, if you have the chance to come to the island and eat his food. He's working Saturday through Wednesday nights, and he's making up specials every day. Tonight's fish special was pan-seared scallops with a mushroom risotto, roasted brussels sprouts, and a bacon-red-wine vinaigrette. The ravioli special (sadly, not gluten-free) was a three-cheese with roasted chicken, red peppers, Greek olives, parsley pesto, and island goat cheese.

He's back.



Many of you have written to us, wondering if Danny would ever cook at a restaurant again, and especially cook gluten-free food. He is. Danny's cooking at the Hardware Store.

He'd like you to know that it's not a gluten-free restaurant. (The fried chicken is "...amazing. The best fried chicken I have ever had," says Danny.) However, the folks at the restaurant understand what it means to be gluten-free. (I hear tell there might be gluten-free desserts soon. Maybe even pie...) Danny and the rest of the staff can feed you gluten-free, easily. Most of the daily specials will be gluten-free, naturally. Tell your server what you need. Tell them you read this site. They'll take care of you.

Danny would love to feed you.


The Hardware Store
17601 Vashon Highway SW
Vashon, WA 98070
206.463.1800

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