Wright Eats

I spend all year dreaming about summer produce, especially our local Washington fruit.  For a couple weeks now, I’ve gone strawberry-crazy, making ice cream, jam, and eating them plain with a touch of our really nice balsamic from Italy, which is sadly almost gone.

I was about to make a strawberry tart this weekend, when I realized that cherry season is quickly slipping away!  Next week is already the last week of sour cherries from Mair Farm-Taki at the U-District market.  Why does it all come at the exact same time, and in spades?  I spend twice as much time in the kitchen in the summertime, it seems.  Not wanting to miss out, I grabbed a bunch of cherries this weekend, and we have quickly switched over to cherries in everything.

We had a breakfast of cherry baby dutch pancake, with Skagit River Ranch bacon.  Dessert tonight was a sour cherry almond cobbler.  Plans for the next week include salmon with grilled sweet onions, sweet cherries, and balsamic; David Tanis’ cherry-almond clafoutis (from A Platter of Figs), and Jerry Traunfeld’s goat cheese handkerchiefs with tart cherries and sage (from The Herbal Kitchen).

And then it’s on to apricots, peaches, blueberries, and blackberries.

Sour Cherry Almond Cobbler
Adapted from Ripe for Dessert, by David Lebovitz
Serves 8

David’s recipe uses sweet cherries, but I love the bracing tartness of sour cherries in my pies and cobblers.

For the filling:
5 cups sour cherries, stemmed and pitted (about 2 pounds)
1 cup sugar
3½ tablespoons cornstarch

For the topping:
7 ounces almond paste
1/3 cup sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg, at room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
1 cup flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup whole milk

Position the oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To make the filling: Mix the cherries with 1 cup of sugar and the cornstarch and arrange them in an even layer in a shallow 2-quart baking dish.

To make the topping: Beat together the almond paste and the 1/3 cup of sugar, until the almond paste is finely broken up.  Beat in the butter, then beat in the egg and the vanilla or almond extract.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter and almond paste mixture, stir in the milk, and finally the remaining dry ingredients.

Spoon the batter evenly over the cherries in the baking dish and bake for 45 minutes, until the topping is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

I’ve been waiting for The Corson Building to start brunch for what seems like for-e-ver.  At around the time that The Corson Building opened last year, my favorite brunch in Seattle, the one at sister-restaurant Sitka and Spruce, closed.  It was a sad day when we walked up on a Sunday morning, only to find that brunch was gone.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we were at the Corson Building today on their first day of Sunday brunch service.  This time around, they take reservations along with walk-ins, unlike Sitka which was walk-in only.  We were happy to find brunch just as we remembered (although here with grapefruit juice! – my morning drink of choice).  There’s the buffet full of cold salads made with local produce, homemade yogurt with local honey and nuts, pâté with kumquats, and fresh baked almond macaroons.  And then you have your choice of one of the two hot dishes made-to-order – today I ordered the poached egg with locally-foraged boletes and a touch of creme.  A simple, delicious dish, which I finished by dredging my bread through the runny yolk and creme mixture.

One thing that’s sadly missing from brunch at The Corson Building is U.S. barista champion Bronwen Serna’s espresso drinks.  That was one of the things we looked forward to most at Sitka, but The Corson Building has no espresso machine and therefore no Bronwen.  Anyone know where she might be serving espresso nowadays?

Although tasty, I don’t know if we’ll be going back as much as we frequented Sitka for brunch.  Eastlake is a quick jog down the road, but Georgetown just isn’t as convenient for us.  But we chatted briefly with Chef Emily Crawford afterwards, and she remembered how Eric wanted to try the fried chicken and waffles, which they once had on the menu last year.  She thought they might try that later this month.  I hope we don’t miss it again!

The Corson Building
5609 Corson Ave, Seattle
(206) 762-3330

Who would have thought that Seattle would have not one, but two retrofitted Airstream trailers serving delicious street food?  Not I.  So when fellow food-blogger Keren Brown announced that this month’s blogger get-together would be at the newly-opened “pig truck,” aka Maximus / Minimus, we couldn’t wait to go!

Maximus / Minimus is the brainchild of Kurt Beecher Dammeier – yes, the same person behind Beecher’s Cheese and other Seattle food endeavors.  Kurt explained to our group yesterday that his son, Max, has been getting more rambunctious lately as he approaches his teens, so Kurt has taken to calling him Maximus.  Kurt liked the name, and as he’s been working out a plan for bringing his pulled pork sandwiches to the masses, he thought about using it.  But, that word alone wasn’t quite right, until one day he thought about adding Minimus after it, and suddenly the yin-yang theme crystallized: offer every item on the menu as either Maximus (hot and spicy) or Minimus (sweet and sour).  Couple that with the pork theme, and you’ve got yourself a pig truck.

The “SOMEPIG” mobile; a Minimus cup of Hibiscus Nectar; the menu.

Vegetarians and vegans need not fear a visit to the pig truck, because there’s a veg sandwich with fennel, onions, and bulgur on the menu, which we hear is quite tasty.  Sides include chips (thinly sliced potatoes, beets, and sweet potatoes fried in rice oil, with fried green beans and jalapeños on top) and slaw (spicy or sweet, of course).  In the eco-friendly cup, pull yourself some Hibiscus Nectar or Ginger Lemonade from the spigot built into the side of the truck.

Sculpted metal pig’s ear; reflection of the sandwich line; one of everything.

So, how was it?  Keep in mind that this was just the second day the truck was open.  Dawn and I got chips (no min/max choice here), plus min and max versions of the pork sandwiches, slaw, and drinks.  The difference between the Minimus and Maximus pork sandwiches was subtle.  The Min was a little sweeter, and the Max not spicy enough for our taste.  Kurt told us that we can order “extra hurt” on the Maximus to make it spicier; I’ll do that (or maybe even a “double hurt”) next time, but I hope they make the Maximus spicier by default.  The veggie chips were crisp and nicely seasoned.  The Minimus slaw (sweetened with tamarind) had the edge for me, and we both preferred the hibiscus nectar Minimus drink.  All-in-all, it was pretty good.  We ordered too much food, so I’d recommend splitting slaw or chips with someone.  Will we go back?  If we’re in the area, say before a downtown show, then sure.  And it would certainly make a good stop for downtown lunch.  But I don’t think we’d make a special trip there just for the truck – for us, Skillet still has the edge on Seattle street food.

Maximus / Minimus
2nd & Pike, Seattle
(206) 601-5510