In the past couple years, Ive been enjoying the flourishing "Happy Hour" scene in Portland. I love reading about and trying out new places, stumbling on that lovely gem of a place you never knew existed, or sampling the menu of popular standbys. Its all good to me.
Sometimes when I'm really impressed by a combination of flavors or textures, my mind wanders to the inevitable question. "Why don't I make this stuff at home?" The answer can be very simple, "I rarely deep fry at home" or more complex, as in "Id have to do some research on the web to find out what seasonings traditionally make this dish so special.
I am always drawn to small savory dishes. Even if there were no such thing as Happy Hour Id prefer to order off the appetizer menu if I could get approximately the same thing. The smaller prices don't dampen my enthusiasm either. Over the last twelve months or so I've found some things that I can make to get that Happy hour feel at home. It doesn't mean forsaking the ambiance of a nicely decorated venue with music and good people watching. But it has added an upscale spark to some home meals that could have been otherwise ho hum.
One of the first things I did was research and duplicate those divine pickled beats and thinly sliced pickled purple onions. The web was my guide, and in no time at all I had a product that when coupled with greens and some nice goat cheese from Trader Joe's yielded a salad as lovely as any Ive had at a bistro. The one last touch that I had to master was making the omni present candied nuts to sprinkle around the top of the salad. This is also an easy process, and there are so many directions for it on line that it doesn't serve to enumerate them here. Suffice to say, Its very easy and you can make a weeks worth at a go if you want to.
Another delight that we encountered, and quickly replicated at home was the felafel's slider from Melt.
Felafel mix is available in packages, and its good. Its also easily got in the bins at Win co and is still darned good. We prepared the mix according to directions but shaped it into something more the shape of a thin chicken tender. These were so delicious and so easy that I took them for a camping dinner at the beach. On a soft roll, with lettuce and tomato they were heaven. So quick, and so easy. If you substituted a dressing made of avocado for the dairy based one we used it could be a wonderful vegan meal.
The last thing I've been doing religiously over the past year is cooking beans from scratch. So Many snacks are prepared from different beans. Hummas from garbanzos, gigantes from giant butter beans, and all types of delights from pintos and black beans. Since I made a vow not to bring canned food into my house a couple years ago, (because I am terrible at recycling and I don't want the sodium) I have been keeping my freezer stocked with these super ingredients. Mini bean and cheese taquitos? No problem. Fiery been dip? Easy as pie. Delectable black bean soup Cubano, or Congri? Quick as a wink.
I hear people say they don't have time to cook beans, or they don't know how. The secret is simple. Follow the instructions. Find a recipe that sounds good, and just do what it says. Especially the part about soaking the beans. They are not kidding. If I put them to soak before I go to bed, the next day they cook. Most cook about Two Hours. Thats about the time I spend doing the stuff around the house each week at some point or another. Its the perfect thing to do while you do the laundry or other things that would keep you home a couple hours. Then I let them cool, and the next day, when I have about 30 minutes, I grab them out of the fridge, measure them into snack size baggies, and load up gallon freezer bags with the sealed measured baggies full of beans. If you treat them gently, and wash them carefully zip lock bags can be reused multiple times before you fill them with garbage you don't want to compost and toss them. Ideally we would not buy plastic bags, but realistically, we don't always have big enough freezers to hold those hard to find one cup freezer containers. Plastic bags full of smaller portions seem to squish into the shape of the space available. I also freeze tomato sauce from the extra garden tomatoes this way, but that's another story.
There is no reason not to have things like a half dozen deviled eggs, good Brie, nice crackers, tiny toasts for Bruchetta made from that old baguette half you didn't get to, and lots of other goodies, once you start thinking about it. Most of the nicest savories are very quickly prepared while you wait for the news to come on, or that last load of towels from the dryer. With all the herbs and seasonings available in bulk at places like Win co foods, and Limbo on 39th Cesar Chavez Just south of Holgate, its pretty simple and inexpensive to have those world flavors we crave.
We all have that pretty dish or candle stick to dress the Happy Hour tray with. Its the perfect time to enjoy those pieces that don't really match anything else, but we keep them just because they have a pleasing quality. You can even find some sweet cocktail napkins at the thrift store, or better yet, stitch your own.
If I was going to splurge on one thing that is costly, in the sense of time, Id choose Pie crust. Very little in this world does not seem wondrous when enveloped in good pastry. Mini tarts and turnovers will make you seem like quite the home chef. If this is too daunting, mastering a simple foccacia, or sponge method pizza crust will elevate you to Saturday night star status.
So here's to Happy Hour, in all its diverse, flavorful glory, but also to trading an evening in occasionally for the evening out.
