Frozen Berries: The Sweetness of Summer in Winter
Oregon summer blueberry smoothie
There’s nothing better than fresh summer berries in the dead of winter. How I wish I had frozen more than just of pint of sweet Oregon blueberries. But they made for two tasty blueberry-kiwi breakfast smoothies, made with Nancy’s plain yogurt kefir (on-sale) from here in Eugene, sweetened with agave nectar and enhanced with ground flax seeds. Did you have the foresight to freeze berries this summer?
Check out the “A Burst of Berry This Winter” article in this issue of Edible Portland. Apparently some 95 percent of Oregon berries are grown for the nationwide frozen food market, so pick some up at a grocery store near you:) And frozen berries pack the same antioxident punch as fresh ones do. And berries, primarily blackberries, raspberries and strawberries (yet to a lesser degree blueberries) are among “the most potent cancer-fighting fruits.”
Making Steak for the First Time…and Perhaps the Last
Really Old-Fashioned Marinated Rib-Eye
I don’t think I’ve ever cooked steak at home before. It’s expensive, environmentally unsustainable, not great for the heart and I don’t really crave beef much. But Mark Bittman’s column on a “Venetian Bath of Wine and Spice,” detailing an aromatic ancient Italian marinade for meat, tempted me.
We bathed the rib-eyes overnight in the cooked wine, infused with whole cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and grated orange. I couldn’t find the pricey Amarone wine Bittman recommended, and plus it’s too expensive to waste on cooking. So I substituted a full-bodied Portuguese Dolcetto D’Alba made with port grapes, but with a dry finish. At $10, the price was right at our downtown wine shop.
The seared steak was perfectly moist, with a spicy sweet finish that needed salt and pepper. Keep it rare. The recipe comes from Frank DeCarlo, the chef at Peasant, one of Dan’s favorite (Italian, of course) restaurants in NYC.
But it still doesn’t feel right to cook steak at home. The smoking pan filled the kitchen with the stench of cooked grease. I’ll still have an occaisional beef hot dog or burger, and I love beef stew or a Vietnamese beef-papaya salad. But steak really isn’t my thing. Hey, I tried, and for steak lovers, this age-old one is worth keeping. Let’s just say my husband was glad I did.
You can watch a video of Mark Bittman preparing the steak recipe here.
Adventures in Truffleland
How fortunate are we to have forest mycologists for next-door neighbors who are among the premier truffle experts in the state. I leaped at the opportunity when they invited me to hitch a ride with them to the Oregon Truffle Festival in Eugene today. It’s a hoighty-toighty gourmet event, but luckily today anyone could attend the marketplace event for $15. It was well-spent
That admission price included indulgent samples of truffled dishes and truffle-accented cheeses and olive oils. And this budding food writer absorbed numerous story ideas from panel discussions and other conversations there. Truffles could become a tobacco-like cash crop salvation for struggling small farms, the writer Kevin West said in a talk. Unfortunately most of us can’t afford to cook with truffles, as they go for $100 to $1,000 a pound. Hence the reason so many amateurs here try to forage for them themselves. I saw a festivalgoer today bartering some Oregon white truffles for wine and first-press olive oils, as if the truffles were gold.
The festival hall was redolent with the heady, pungent perfume of the truffles. The rare Oregon Brown Truffle (see above) had an especially potent, Roquefort-like aroma. Only the relatively more common white and black truffle varieties were featured in the food we sampled.
The chefs from Caprial’s Bistro in Portland whipped up a truffled fennel-potato soup and a simple roasted carrot salad. (See recipes below).
A cloyingly rich marsala pasta with white truffles and flecks of foie gras followed from Newman’s at 988 in Cannon Beach. And Vitaly and Kimberly Paley of Paley’s Place in Portland were on-hand to sign their new cookbook.
Truffles are a gift of nature that fruit in the earth in all regions of the world. Desert truffles, I learned today, are abundant in the Kalahari region of sub-Saharan Africa, in Austrailia and in the Middle East. In fact, there’s evidence that shows the “manna from Heaven” that fed the Israelites was likely morsels of desert truffle. How cool.
Roasted Carrot Salad with Sherry Dressing and Goat Cheese and White Truffles (have you noticed sherry vinegar is all the rage? I just got some for the first time.)
Serves 4
4 large carrots, peeled and large dice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and black pepper
Dressing
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
6 tablespoons olive oil
salt and black pepper
2 bunches watercress, washed and spun dry
2 ounces soft goat cheese
thinly sliced white truffle
Preheat oven 425 degrees convection bake setting. Place a heavy gauge sheet pan in the oven to pre-heat for about 10 minutes. Toss the carrots with olive oil and salt and pepper. Place on the hot sheet pan in a single layer. Cook until tender and golden brown, about 20 minutes.
While the carrots are cooking, prepare the dressing. Whisk the vinegar, garlic and mustard together. While whisking slowly add the oil and whisk til incorporated and smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
To serve the salad, divide the watercress onto 4 plates. Top with the warm carrots and drizzle with the dressing. Top the salad with goat cheese and sliced truffle and serve.
Courtesy of Caprial and John Pence of Caprial’s Bistro
Fresh Local Winter Kiwis…Who Knew?
Who knew that seemingly tropical fuzzy Hayward kiwis grow in Oregon and are available fresh in winter. But they are locally grown here at the Greengable Gardens in Philomath. They harvest the sweet fruit in November but they easily keep, at a temperature of about 35 degrees, and can be sold fresh for the next four months.
What do you do with your kiwifruit? I made a tropical yogurt bowl last week, with sliced kiwi, mandarin oranges and pineapple. Kiwi jam or sorbet, maybe, or even kiwi salsa are other options I’d like to try. Of course, I love just scooping the fresh flesh out of a halved kiwi with a spoon. I’m just thankful for fresh fruit in the dead of winter. Knowing it’s local makes all the difference.
A Buttery, Banana-y, Brown Sugar Bread
I don’t bake nearly enough. But the results are always so instantly gratifying. There’s the real before-and-after sense, with the magic between batter and baked good happening behind the closed door of the oven. Cooking on the stove, on the other hand, is a gradual transformation that unfolds before your eyes.
This is a fabulous Banana Banana Bread recipe, simple and moist and redolent of the pureed fruit, topped with a delicate crushed walnut-turbinado sugar crust. It’s easy to see why it’s a top-rated recipe on Allrecipes.com. Lacking a loaf pan, I used a square one instead, which happily yielded more browned chewy corners. I added vanilla to the batter. Next time, I’ll throw in chocolate chips for Dan. But I prefer the unadulterated banana flavor.
The Simplicity of Soup: Wild Mushroom, Spinach & Barley from Atlanta
I finally had the chance to attempt a recipe from Souper Jenny Cooks, the cookbook from the Atlanta soup diva whose cafe my sister Elaine loves. I just happened to try the “Wild Mushroom, Spinach & Barley Soup” recipe (see below), which Elaine says is one of her favorites.
This is a soup for the peak of fall mushroom season. But I still found the shiitake and oyster mushrooms I needed at the food co-op (mushrooms ain’t cheap, though). Luckily, cremini mushrooms were on sale so I used them too. I added a combo of homemade chicken stock and prepared vegetable broth, and tossed in wild rice because I didn’t have enough barley. Through in some celeriac and chopped cabbage, too. And I’m probably the only person who would have Chinese Shaoxing wine in the house but not dry sherry, so I made that substitution too (the two can be used pretty interchangeably).
It was a healthy, hearty soup. Can’t wait to try more of the recipes. Thanks for the great cookbook, sis! Can’t wait to visit the soup cafeteria in person with you.
Wild Mushroom, Spinach & Barley Soup (Serves 8-10)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
4 cups shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
4 cups oyster mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
8 ounces button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 cup dry sherry
16 cups low sodium vegetable broth
2 cups fresh spinach, rinsed and chopped
2 1/2 cups dry barley
salt and pepper
Heat a heavy duty stock pot and add olive oil. Saute onion and garlic until soft. Add all mushrooms and sherry and saute over medium heat until mushrooms are soft (about 15 minutes). Add vegetable broth and spinach and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in barley and simmer for another 25 to 30 minutes. Add more broth if soup is thicker than you like. Add salt and pepper to taste.
A Note on Cleaning Mushrooms
For this soup, I am very careful about how I clean my mushrooms. First put mushrooms in a colander and shake out any loose dirt or grit. Then, with a damp cloth, wipe down the mushrooms individually. Rinsing mushrooms causes them to absorb excess liquid, which makes them rubbery.
From Souper Jenny Cooks by Jennifer Levison
“Clearcut:” Culture Wars in Nearby Philomath, Oregon
Denuded hillside south of Corvallis, Oregon
I half-watched a documentary last night about the clash between old-time timber folks and newer urban refugees in the nearby town of Philomath. Every high school graduate once had their college tuition funded by a guaranteed scholarship from a local timber baron’s foundation. But the foundation threatened to cut the purse strings as the school board drifts in a more liberal pro-environment direction, as previously unheard of things like gay student groups spring up at the local high school. They scaled the scholarship back to only apply to second-generation Philomath residents who would study traditional timber-related fields. The major flash-point occurred in 2005, when the foundation suspended grants for any students attending Oregon State University, ironically the ag school just down the road. OSU was “using education to indoctrinate studwents with the socialist ideology of the Global Green Parties,” the film quotes the foundation. Not sure what the current state of the scholarship program is, since the Clemens Foundation doesn’t appear to have a website.
You can hear more about the culture wars in Philomath here.
Wheat Berries for Breakfast
“There in Spirit” and the wholesome site 101 Cookbooks inspired me to try wheat berries as a hot cereal for breakfast. Afterall, I do have a five-pound bag of locally-grown whole soft white wheat to plow through. Here’s the 101 Cookbooks recipe. I topped the cereal with sauteed pear, apple, crystallized ginger, maple syrup and a little vanilla coconut milk yogurt. Should have reduced the volume of wheat berries, to have a less oaty, higher fruit to cereal ratio. It was better heated up the next day. But I still think I prefer steel-cut oatmeal and granola. How many varieties of hot cereal do we need. What grains do ya’ll eat hot for breakfast?
Achiote Chicken with Grilled Scallions
Thanks again to Julia for this marvelous Latin chicken recipe. Finding whole annatto seeds proved to be a quest, but I finally found them at a Mexican bakery/tienda. The storekeeper told me most Mexicans just buy the ready-made (MSG-laden?) paste. But BaltimOregon pretends to be an intrepid cook. I also should have ground the spices in a coffee grinder instead of mini-food processor. My paste didn’t emulsify but still made for tangy coated chicken. Should I have chopped the grilled scallions? They came out a bit limp. The best part was butchering the whole chicken by myself for the first time (see a video on how to do so below). I’m hooked though I had trouble locating the precious oyster during the dissection. See below for Julia’s delicious recipe. I served it with quinoa. And we had a simple New Orleans Sweet Potato, Corn and Jalapeno Bisque to start.
Achiote Chicken with Grilled Scallions
preheat 450
ingredients:
1 whole chicken
ACHIOTE PASTE:
2 Tbs annatto seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp oregano, dried
6 whole allspice berries
1 tsp sea salt
4 cloves pressed/smashed garlic
4 Tbs lime juice
1/4 cup achiote paste
1/4 cup orange juice, fresh squeezed
1 bunch scallions
1 lime
1/2 head shredded cabbage
cut the chicken into 9 pieces, save the back and wings for stock. season the chicken with salt and pepper. place in a medium bowl while making the achiote paste.
paste: combine annatto, cumin, oregano, allspice and salt in a grinder to make a powder. mix the powder in a small bowl with garlic and lime juice. measure out 1/4 cup and store the rest in the fridge.
puree the 1/4 cup of paste with orange juice in a blender.
using fingers, gently loosen chicken skin, spread the paste beneath the skin and over the chicken’s surface. place the chicken pieces in a roasting pan. roast until chicken is cooked and skin is crisp ~25-30 mins., broil for a little if skin is not crisp.
while chicken is cooking peel the outer layer from the green onions, squeeze the juice of one lime over them, and grill until soft and browned from the grill pan. shred cabbage and use as a bedding for chicken and scallions.
Here’s the link on how to cut-up your own whole chicken: http://www.gourmet.com/food/testkitchen/2009/01/knauer_how_to_cut_up_whole_chicken
There’s No Place Like Home for Indian Food (in Corvallis)
Really Lovely Red Lentils with Ninkasi Brewery (from Eugene) Domination IPA
Sadly, we weren’t enthralled with the meal we had at at Nirvana, the newer Indian restaurant in Corvallis. Dan said the Lamb Vindaloo and Mushroom Mattar sauces tastes ketchup-y. We’re heard the other place here, Evergreen, isn’t that great, but at least they do have South Indian veg dishes like Masala Dosa. How I miss the Woodlands in Charlotte, perhaps the best Indian I have had in the U.S. And I loved the thali Indian tapas-style lunch specials at Indigma in Baltimore.
For now though here, we’re content to cook Indian at home. Tonight I whipped up a really simple red lentil curry dish I found in The Thymes, the monthly newsletter of our food co-op. (See the recipe below). I only used one can of coconut milk, adding more water instead, and substituted some leftover scraps of collards and kale instead of the swiss chard. Throw any vegetables in the bin in! I also made cucumber raita as a condiment to give the dal more creaminess.
BaltimOregon to Maine 