Archive for ‘Cooking’

3 results.
Nov14

Casa Kesel

by Karl on November 14, 2011 at 12:01 am

If you’re ever invited to the Portland Comic Book Show, go. Not just because Richard Finn puts together a nice show and treats his guests right, but because the Saturday night before the November show, Richard and some of the guests come to my house and I cook dinner for them. Richard kindly foots the bill for the evening, and I get to meet and hang out with some very cool people.

Last Saturday, November 12th, It was my great pleasure to cook for Mike Royer, Kurt Busiek, Pete Woods, Paul and Anina Guinan, Brandon Jerwa, Stephen Sadowski, Jason Gorder, and their wives/girlfriends/significant others. I always have a great time at these gatherings, and it seems like others do, too.

This time around, we had a Southern-inspired menu:

  • Appetizers: Spiced Pecans, Pickled Shrimp
  • Fall Salad with Blue Cheese, Pumpkin Seed Brittle, and Sherry Vinaigrette
  • Pork Loin Roast Stuffed with Onions and Bacon, a Carrot-Ginger Sauce on the side
  • Sautéed Kale and Collard Greens with Caramelized Shallots and an Apple Cider Gastrique
  • Savannah Red Rice
  • Skillet Corn Bread with Maple Butter
  • Dessert: Apple Crisp with Brandy-Soaked Currants, Pear Chocolate Upside-Down Cake, Vanilla Ice Cream

I’d never made the Pork Loin before, so the sauce was a fall-back in case it turned out dry— which it didn’t. But the sauce was still a nice extra layer of flavor, and the bright orange color looked good on the plate. The Big Hit of the evening, however, was the salad’s Pumpkin Seed Brittle: nutty and sweet with just the right touch of cayenne heat. It’s addictive!

I enjoy cooking almost as much as I love cartooning, and certainly enjoy that people like to eat what I make, but I’m no “chef.” What I am is a fairly solid cook, and a really good follower-of-recipes. It’s like anything else: if you like it, and do it, you get better at it.

Last thing: Someone needs to write Mike Royer’s biography. The man’s seen it all, has an amazing memory, and tells some of the best stories I’ve even heard. And I’m not saying that just ’cause he signed my page of Kirby Jimmy Olsen original art.

Karl Kesel

Nov21

Sweet Eats

by Karl on November 21, 2011 at 12:01 am

With the Portland Comic Book Show dinner behind me and Thanksgiving around the corner, I’m thinking a lot about cooking right now. I’ll sort through endless recipes trying to figure out the perfect balance of flavors for a meal, but when it comes to dessert the first place I turn— and usually the only place I need to look— is Rustic Fruit Desserts by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson. There is no better dessert cookbook out there. Period.

Rustic Fruit Desserts

This is a book filled with cobblers, crisps, pies, buckles, pandowdies, slumps, and such. The kind of simple, soul-satisfying sweets that our moms probably never really made, but we all like to think they did. Nothing fancy, but everything fantastically flavorful. I’ve made well over half the recipes— with my sights set on making every single one— and all have been wonderful, with most absolute Crowd Pleasers. I’m talking eyes-roll-back-when-you-take-a-bite. (Okay— the dreaded Jam Cake didn’t come out either time I made it, but that’s ’cause I didn’t have a bundt pan. I do now. So next time: different story.) The book’s divided by season— so you can use fruit at its most flavorful— and lists ingredients by volume and weight— essential when it comes to the science of baking. Just thinking of the Stone Fruit Upside-Down Cornmeal Cake…  MMMMM— !

The topper— for me, at least— is that the two authors are Portland locals. Cory Schreiber founded Wildwood— one of the leading Portland restaurants the last 20 years— and Julie Richardson runs Baker and Spice— a bakery that started as a booth at the downtown Farmer’s Market. Portland’s a great food town, and these two are only the tip of the iceberg as to why.

We have friends coming over for dinner this weekend, and I think I’ll let them eat cake. That’s right: Jam Cake…

Karl Kesel

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Nov24

Thanksgiving

by Karl on November 24, 2011 at 12:01 am

It seems odd — yet oddly appropriate— to talk about food next to a zombie comic, but Thanksgiving is without a doubt the biggest holiday in our house. Myrna’s family comes over and they are gracious enough to let me plan the meal and do 99% of the cooking. (When we adopt, I’ve asked my East Coast family to come out for Thanksgiving, not Christmas, to be with the Little One; that’s how important T-day is to us.) This year we’re expecting somewhere between 17 and 21 at our table. And on and around that table will be:

  • Appetizer: Cranberry Salsa with Corn Chips
  • Arugula Salad with Pecans, Oven-Dried Grapes, and a Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette
  • Hawaiian-Portuguese Smoked Turkey
  • Boatloads of gravy, of course
  • Ciabatta Stuffing with Chestnuts and Pancetta
  • New York Salt Potatoes
  • Roasted Medley of Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, and Broccoli
  • Roasted Parsnips with Bacon and Rosemary
  • Gingered Sweet Potato Streusel
  • Buttermilk Biscuits (Plus Spiced Pumpkin and Parmesan-Black Pepper variations)
  • Desserts: Pumpkin Cheesecake, Bacon Baklava (must be tasted to be believed!), Fruit Pie from Myrna’s mom Betty, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (store-bought), Oatmeal-Cranberry Cookie Ice Cream (home-made)

Most of these are tried-and-true, crowd-pleasing recipes— what have become, over the years, part of our Thanksgiving traditions— with a few new dishes thrown in to keep things interesting.

Happy Thanksgiving. Here’s hoping that yours, like ours, is filled with good food, family and friends, traditions, and a surprise twist or two.

Karl Kesel

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