Tom Douglas and Monster Cookies

Can you believe January is already half over? Before we know it, these dark evenings of winter will give way to those pleasant spring evenings that make Seattle such a lovely place to be. I like these cozy evenings of down slippers and warm blankets, not to mention the comforting food of winter.

Despite eating out four evenings this week (ridiculous, but we used gift cards and Groupons, so it was inexpensive!), we made some fun new recipes. For Christmas, Burr and MJ gave us "Tom's Big Dinners," written by Seattle legend Tom Douglas. I have been admiring this book for a long time, and I was over-the-moon-excited to add it to our cookbook library!

Carl had a hankering for braising meat last Sunday, so he picked two recipes from Tom's favorite restaurant in Seattle, Labuznik. It's a place where Burr and Grandpa Carl had been before, so it seemed like a great place to start. Finding a bone-in pork loin rib roast was a little intimidating, but we were relieved that the butcher knew exactly what we were talking about, and it was only $15! We had a great feast with Rachel that day!


Slow-Roasted Pork with Caraway Onion Gravy By Tom Douglas
One 3-pound bone-in pork loin rib roast, cut from the blade end, chine bone removed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 tablespoons caraway seeds
1 tablespoon bacon fat
1 medium onion, peeled, cut in half, and julienned
5 garlic cloves, peeled 3 tablespoons tomato paste
5 cups chicken stock, hot
1 tablespoon "quick mixing" flour, such as Wondra



Preheat oven to 300°F. Season the pork generously with salt and pepper; sprinkle with the caraway seeds. Melt the bacon fat over medium-high heat in a roasting pan placed over 2 burners. Add the pork and the chine bone; brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Place the onion in the pan; arrange the pork roast, bony side up, on top of the onion. Leave the chine bone in the pan; place the pan in oven. 

After 2 1/2 hours of roasting, stick an instant-read thermometer into the meat; it should read about 165°F. If the temperature is lower than that, keep roasting until thermometer does read 165°F. At that point, remove pan from oven. Transfer pork to a platter; set it in a warm spot, and cover it loosely with foil. 

Transfer the pork to a cutting board; cut into portions between bones. Pile cut pork on a platter; pour a quarter of the gravy over it. Pour the rest of the gravy into a sauce boat, and use it for whatever gravy-friendly side you wish.


With all the delicious gravy, we made the recommended bread dumplings to go with it, using homemade croutons that Carl made. Alas, they turned out really weird. It's a typical dumpling recipe (flour, eggs), but then you add 1 1/2 cups of croutons. When I boiled them in logs (instead of the drop dumplings I am used to), they looked like a swollen bread loaf studded with croutons. After slicing it into rounds, I steamed them for a few minutes. They tasted ok, but we got a superior recipe from Claudia Olsen, who is a member of the Prosser Olsen clan. Here's the recipe for Knödel from her Czech grandmother:

"The recipe I use calls for 2 french rolls, cut into cubes, toasted in butter, 400g flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 egg lightly beaten, salt and 200ml milk. Now we always put some nutmeg in and since those are rather plain I like to add garlic salt, sometimes even crispy fried bacon or roasted onions. You mix the dry ingredients including the bread and wet ingredients separately, then form a nice dough out of it, don't overmix or they will be tough. Let stand for a few minutes. If it is too sticky to handle, wet your hands and shape the dough into 2 balls. Bring a large pot of salt water to boil, turn heat down so it just simmers and cook the Knödl for about 20 to 30 minutes."

We haven't tried Claudia's recipe yet, but we'll add it to the list!

The third recipe of the week was Monster Cookies, which I baked on Friday night. We had a quiet Friday night in, which felt really good after a long week. It's no secret that my favorite chocolate chip cookies are my mom's (I haven't found one that comes even close to hers!), but I did give Paula Deen's recipe for a whirl.




Monster Cookies
Adapted from Paula Deen's recipe

3 eggs
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
12 oz creamy peanut butter
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup M&Ms
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (not instant)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats. In a very large mixing bowl, combine the eggs and sugars. Mix well. Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter, and butter. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate candies, chocolate chips, raisins, if using, baking soda, and oatmeal. Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Do not overbake. Let stand for about 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool. When cool, store in large resealable plastic bags.

I was so excited to use my silicon baking mats that I got for Christmas (thanks Molly and Mary Jean!), and they worked like a charm. One thing I really like about this recipe is that it doesn't use any flour. They are far from gluten-free, I'm sure, and the cookie dough isn't nearly as enjoyable as a regular recipe, but texture and creaminess were winners in my book. With all that natural peanut butter and oatmeal, they are practically healthy, right? We shared the cookies with the Osbornes and the Aronsons (though I'm sure Carl and I could have enjoyed 2 dozen all by ourselves!).

As I write this, Carl is finishing up his Drunken Chicken and Rice with Tomatoes, so it's almost dinnertime at our house! (Yes, it is 10 p.m. We do this alot.)

Talk to you next week!
Christy and Carl