Tastemakers invitation: Peet's Café Solano blend

This is part 2 of my Tastemaker charge to work with Peet's Coffee. To try your own with a little financial help, go here.

The other Peet’s blend I tried for the Tastemakers program was called Café Solano.  It is also a medium blend and was loosely described as being “bright”.  Compared to Café Domingo, this is a heartier roast better suited to savory dishes.  In fact, it’s nearly perfect with any egg dish I could devise.  I like salty, greasy things after, ahem, a late night, and Café Solano became the accompaniment this week to my favorite “morning after” dish, the Morning After Skillet.  Looking for something a little more upscale, perhaps something you could serve other people without having to explain yourself?  Try a Scandinavian quiche and some roasted potatoes for a totally age-appropriate brunch.  

Scandinavian Quiche

Serves 6

1 refrigerated or frozen pie crust (9-inch, deep dish)

5 eggs

½ cup non-fat half and half

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard

¼ cup grated cheese of your choice (Parmesan, Gruyere, and sharp cheddar are all good choices.)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

4 oz. smoked salmon, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Prepare pie crust according to directions, if necessary, and place on a baking sheet.  Bake pie crust in the oven about 10 minutes while you’re preheating; check to make sure the bottom of the crust I starting to get crisp.  This will keep it from being soggy in the finished product.  

In a large bowl, combine all remaining ingredients through chopped dill and whisk vigorously.  Gently stir in salmon.  When the crust is ready, remove from oven, pour egg mixture into pie crust, and place back in oven.  Cook 35-40 minutes or until egg is firm in the center.  Serve hot or at room temperature. Serve with...

Easy Roasted Potatoes

Serves 6

4-5 large Russet potatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence (or dried oregano)

Washed, trim, and chop potatoes into 1/2- inch cubes.  Place in a bowl and toss with olive oil, salt, and Herbes de Provence.  Spread into a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place in oven.  Bake at 350°F for 65 minutes or until golden, checking and stirring occasionally.  

Finally, I thought Café Solano’s roasty, slightly nutty flavor would work well in beans, and it did.  Serve this for breakfast, brunch, or lunch--it’s a quick take on New Orleans-style dirty rice, rounded out with beans to make a complete one-dish meal or serve as an accompaniment to egg or meat dishes.  

Peet’s Red Eye Beans and Rice

Serves 4

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 green pepper, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 jalapeno pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, diced

1 large tomato, cored and diced

 ¼  cup leftover Peet’s Café Solano 

1 14.5-oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

3 cups cooked long-grain brown rice

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 tablespoon chopped thyme

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon paprika

¼ teaspoon cayenne

½ cup sliced green onions

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add oil to pan, and when it shimmers, stir in the peppers, onion, and garlic.  Cook until tender, about 10 minutes.  Add diced tomato, coffee, red beans, and the rice.  Stir to mix thoroughly.  Add the herbs, salt, black pepper, paprika, cayenne, and green onions.  Lower the heat and cook 10-15 minutes, until flavors are thoroughly incorporated.  

Tastemakers invitation: Peet's Café Domingo blend

As a Foodbuzz blogger, I am occasionally invited to participate in a program called Tastemakers, in which a sponsoring product will give me free stuff in exchange for a blog post about said product.  I did this recently with Sargento cheese because I like cheese and free things, but as you can see from my post, it was a little awkward for me.

But when Peet's Coffee sent me an invitation, I jumped at it.  I love Peet's; it's the coffee we most prefer in my house, when it's not too expensive.  I loved the story of Alfred Peet as I learned it in Taylor Clark's informative and entertaining book, Starbucked.  In Clark's recitation of American coffee history, Alfred Peet is the cranky old immigrant in Berkeley, California who reluctantly agrees to apprentice the two scruffy graduate students who would late found a certain big-name coffee shop.  That part's not important.  Peet's coffee was revolutionary in the 1970s, when America was still accustomed to weak, insipid drip coffee served in styrofoam cups for 50 cents in doughnut shops.  After reading about it, I went to find some at my local grocery store, and I've been a fan ever since.  I am also generally a fan of stories about cranky old men, but I'm planning to see someone about that.

Well, I digress, but what I got in the mail was two new medium roast blends and a request to create some recipes for foods that would pair well with each.  My next post will cover more savory recipes to accompany Peet's Café Solano; this post concerns Peet’s Café Domingo, which is described as having "hints of toffee sweetness" (and boy, does it!).

I preferred this new blend to be made quite strong, probably because I'm accustomed to drinking the darkest thing I can find.  It is pleasant, but the caramel flavor I detected limited it, in my opinion, to being appropriate for sweet foods.  I instantly thought the fresh nectarines we had in the kitchen would work perfectly the first morning I tried Peet’s Café Domingo, and I was right.  I also wondered about my favorite sweet nut, almond, and created a variation on my mom's shortbread recipe to go with this blend.  Both work well as pairings with this coffee. There's also a bonus pumpkin-invaded recipe, because it's October and I like to be trendy, which compliments the toffee-ness of this coffee blend.

Breakfast Sundae

It’s so simple, I feel guilty typing this up as a recipe, but it makes me happy every morning.  I know I need to eat breakfast to avoid snacking on Doritos by 10am, but waking up enough to actually think about what to make is a daunting task by the time the coffee is done.  This is easily produced, delicious, and covers most of the nutritional bases to get me through to lunch.  Use whatever fruit is in season.


Serves 1:

1 peach or nectarine, washed and cut into approx. ½ inch pieces
1/3 cup yogurt (I prefer Greek style vanilla or honey flavors)
¼ cup granola
Some almond slices

In a bowl, layer in this order: peaches, yogurt, granola., almond slices.  Enjoy with a medium-bodied coffee like Peet’s Café Domingo.




Toasted Almond Oatmeal Shortbread

This is a slight modification of my mom's Oatmeal Shortbread recipe, so lovingly described here.  The toasted almonds bring out the toffee flavor of Peet’s Café Domingo, I think.

Makes about 5 dozen pieces.  

1 cup unsalted butter
½ cup white sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 ½ cups flour
3.4 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick oats
½ cup slivered almonds.

Preheat oven at 325°F.  In a dry pan over medium heat, toast the slivered almonds, shaking the pan often,  until they begin to turn golden and become fragrant (about 4 minutes).  Remove from heat and reserve.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl.  Gradually add the flour, oats, toasted almonds, and salt.  Press into a greased 13x9x2 pan.   Bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.  Cool 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

And finally...


Pumpkin Harvest Muffins

Because it's October...and I succumbed to the pumpkin trend...

Makes 24 muffins or 2 bread loaves

1 cup white sugar

2 c. brown sugar

1 can (15 oz.) cooked pumpkin

4 eggs, beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup canola oil

2/3 cup water

2 cups unbleached white flour

1 cup whole grain wheat flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 ½ cups dried cranberries

2 tablespoons flax seeds

½ cup chopped dark chocolate (Ghirardelli’s baking bar, for example)

Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, oil, and water; mix well.  In a separate bowl, combine flours, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and flax seeds; add to egg mixture and stir well.  Stir in nuts, chocolate, and cranberries until well incorporated.

Pour batter into two medium-sized muffin pans (12 muffins each) or two bread loaf pans.  For muffins, bake approx. 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.  For bread pans, bake 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of loaf comes out clean.

I tasted Sargento cheese and lived to tell...

Actually, it is fine.  Sargento cheese is lovely.  I was recently invited to participate in Foodbuzz's Tastemakers program with Sargento Cheese , which involved my having to go out and purchase said brand of cheese.  Not having ever noticed the brand before in my local store, I scoured the deli area filled with blocks of exotic cheeses and found nothing.  I headed over to the more pedestrian “cheese and beer” aisle and there, in the grated and pre-sliced cheese area, was my target: Sargento, at least in my town, is only available packaged for the American Busy Moms looking for shortcuts in their baking and lunch-packing drudgery.

When I signed on to taste Sargento, I imagined getting some lovely little blocks of different cheeses, pairing them with some crackers, olives, and fruit, and breaking out the wine for an impromptu party on the back patio.  Now I was faced with plastic bags of (albeit real) cheese pieces and a mission to rethink how I would make best use of what I had before me.

The other aspect of the taste challenge was that I had to compare Sargento real cheeses to a processed cheese product, like  American cheese slices or some such garbage.  I couldn’t stomach more than some grilled cheese sandwiches with each kind of cheese, and I can truthfully report that the sandwich made with Sargento was not horrible, and the sandwich made with sliced “cheese product” was, in fact, absolutely horrible.  No flavor or aroma to speak of, except a vaguely waxy taste in the mouth, and a plastic-like texture made for a truly creepy sandwich.  I tried to dress it up (results below), but nothing helped.  The cheese and filling combinations listed here should be used with real cheese; Sargento fit the bill just fine.

Grilled Cheeses Deluxe:

Toast in the oven or fry in a pan; these additions just make that ubiquitous comfort food a little more special.

Bread Cheese Fillings Condiments

Rye    +     Sharp Cheddar     +  thinly sliced red onion and green apple   + grainy mustard
Sourdough   + pepper jack   + sliced dried apricots   + 1 tsp. plain yogurt mixed with 1 tsp. curry powder
Whole wheat + mozarella sliced fresh tomato     + prepared pesto

I know what you're thinking, but
I'm pretty sure that's the Mona Lisa.  

Now, back to the business at hand.  When I saw all those prepackaged cheese in the aisle, I couldn’t help but envision casseroles; you can take the Midwesterner out of the Midwest, but…well.  So I also used some handily pre-sliced provolone to make the simple, light yet rich casserole, below.  It’s a great way to use up all those overgrown zucchini and summer squash, and it can be cut into portions, wrapped in foil, and frozen for later use.   I have to say, the Sargento provolone melted beautifully and provided a rich, buttery taste and texture to the dish.



Late Summer Zucchini Bake

Serves 8-10

6 medium zucchini, summer squash, or combination of both, sliced ¼ inch thick
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced into half-rings
8 fresh tomatoes, cored and sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons herbes de Provence, divided
Coarse ground sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 package (10 slices) Sargento provolone sliced cheese
Olive oil
½ baguette cut into cubes

Place the cubed bread in a medium bowl and add 1 tablespoon olive oil; mix thoroughly and set aside.

Coat the bottom of a large casserole dish with olive oil.  Lay down one layer of zucchini slices, followed by 1/3 of the onion slices.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon of the herbes de Provence.   Top with a layer of tomato slices and half the cheese.  Repeat the process, then top the second layer with the remaining zucchini and onion slices, and season with salt and pepper Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake in the oven at 450°F (no need to preheat) on the bottom rack for 45 minutes or until onions and zucchini on top are soft.  Uncover and top with the cubed bread, then return to the oven to bake another 15-20 minutes uncovered, or until the bread begins to brown.  Remove from oven and allow to cool 5 minutes before cutting and serving.  Pairs well with a crisp Rosé or Vinho Verde.