The Fabulosity of Occasional Random Performances
Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com
Snorkeling has become my cheesy allegory for life these days. When I wake up in the middle of the night and the stress of my mind gets busy keeping me awake, I relax by going snorkeling. I envision the warm water enveloping my skin, the sun on my back, the beautiful fish and corals that I can see... and usually I am asleep again pretty quickly. It does not always work. For instance last night I was mentally submerging my body into the water and I started analyzing what I love about snorkeling. On the first day of any snorkeling vacation it has been a very long time since I last snorkeled. The water has control so that first dip into the water is always a bit stressful and I struggle to get my fins on, keep the mask clear, regulate my breathing, and to get my swimming rhythm back. I love being in that salt water, the buoyancy is so great! I don't even need a PFD, I just float along so nicely I can even relax completely and take a nap in the water! I know you think I am kidding but last time I was snorkeling I got a big fever and I was not feeling well at all... which would not keep me out of the Mexican Caribbean! And I did drift off for a second... Anyway when I first get out there after a long time I tend to be so excited by everything that I am seeing that I keep my head up so that I can look ahead. After a while my neck gets tired and I realize that I am missing what is directly in front of me by doing this. If I rest my neck too long and only look at what is directly in front of me, I begin to miss opportunities to see and do more, and I fail to plot my course appropriately and have more than once ended up over some tall coral that I cannot get around, so I must backtrack. Keeping the balance between watching the beauty unfold right in front of me, and keeping an eye on what is to come so that I can have a general plan for my course, is the best way to snorkel. My neck doesn't get too sore, I can stay out there far longer, and then every once in a while I flip over and gaze out on where I have been and what is all around me from a different angle. It is relaxing and it helps me remember how to get back on to the beach, since I haven't figured out a way to live in the water yet. Snorkeling keeps my attention in the moment so well that there is not room for worrying or complaining or obsessing over silly problems. Once in a while something really scary (to me) happens, like the barracuda get too close and I do not like that! Though more likely I will see a giant turtle and begin squealing with excitement (which sounds even funnier with a snorkel in my mouth) and follow it all around for as long as I can.
I still drifted off again last night even with all that mumbo jumbo going on...though when I woke up this morning I decided to share that with you. Maybe you will get something out of it, or at least try snorkeling on your next vacation because it is THE BEST! (Sidenote for the divers: I cannot dive because I have an inner ear imbalance that cannot be fixed... I can barely fly without pain.. so yes, I imagine diving is awesome but it is not available to all of us like snorkeling is.)
Last week I went the grocery store and for the first time in ages... probably since last winter, I needed to buy onions. I have been getting them from farmers markets, direct from farmers, and from FreshLocal in Bremerton. I walked up to the onion bin and I was confused: every onion in the bin had the root ends cut off and they were all trimmed. It looked strange to me and I couldn't figure out why they would do that. A grocery store employee saw my befuddlement and asked if she could help me and I asked if there were any onions that had the hairy root ends left on. She must have thought I was a nut job, but she looked around (not the red onions, they too are trimmed) and found some big white onions that she could point out to me. Yes they had the roots... they were $1.79lb and they were from Peru! I am not buying onions from Peru if I can help it... unless I go to Peru, in which case I will be happy to! So I looked around a little more and found a corner with some bagged onions that were whole and happy with their roots still attached. They were from a farm in Prosser, WA, Thank you! Too bad they weren't more prominently displayed, I can't believe I am the only one who wants the whole food from a more local source...at least I hope I am not! As I looked around I realized that much of the produce was like this. I had not noticed because even when I do shop for produce at the grocery store I am in the organic section and they offer more of the whole foods, like carrots with the greens, and that type of thing. It seems strange to me that our society is obsessed with 'clean' and trimmed produce. The meat is one thing, but are we so out of touch that we cannot stand the thought of a little dirt on our food before we prepare it? The cashier who checked me out mentioned how 'dirty' those onions are and they would need their own plastic bag. I told her they were fine and that my cloth bags were used at the farmer's markets so they were used to having dirt in them, it would not hurt their feelings. She thought that was very funny as she sanitized her hands after touching the dirty onions. Sigh.
We are casting out our luck lines and trying to win a local business grant that would help us pay our taxes this quarter and we could REALLY use the help! So if you have a minute please go to the Intuit Love A Local Business site and vote for us. Just put in "Monica's" for the business name, "Silverdale, WA" for city and state, and we are the first business to pop up. Click on our business name, write a nomination in, and send it. You can see all the nominations for us (and other businesses) so far and I thank you in advance for taking the time to do this!
This month we tried our hand at biscuits and gravy. Jason Parker, one of our highest points-earning customers, has been requesting this dish for some time, and I have been wanting to make it since we opened! It is difficult to find time to do new projects like this... so I made the gravy and a recipe for the biscuits, which Mark perfected for me. We make them with butter so they are not quite as flaky as the shortening versions, though they taste great. It was a big hit and I am going to get it on the menu at least once a month from now on. Jason told me that he thought the biscuits were the best ever, and the taste of the gravy was fantastic, and he would only want the consistency a bit runnier if he could. Well we can certainly see about that! We also did chicken and dumplings as our monthly comfort meal 'Diner Classics' and it was a huge hit! I made the stock on Saturday and our Navy intern Marcus took all the meat off the bones for me, which was a huge help! I made the dish on Monday, which turned out to be our slowest business day in a year! Tuesday was not much busier and yet we sold out of the chicken and dumplings! I thought it would last 3-4 days and it did not even make it 2 days! So I think this idea of doing these comfort meals is a good one. Next month: Lamb Shanks in Tomato Sauce on Polenta. We will start serving them up on February 8 and see how it goes.
Sunday Mark and I were at The Tides Tavern in Gig Harbor, ironically to say 'farewell' to Jason Winniford, who's great service skills I told you about in my last blog. Right after I wrote that I found out that Jason is leaving Brix 25 and having a celebration party at the Tides. We went early and were lucky to snag a few private moments of conversation with Jason before the big crowds got there. He is following his former bosses, Nick & Joleen Reynolds, over to their business Seabeck Pizza. This is great news for our industry because it means that Jason will be teaching and mentoring the next generation of food service professionals, and we need people like him for that! His high standards and thorough mind will be a huge asset to his new company and we are very happy that he is keeping his talents in this region.
Tonight I am headed to the Bremerton GreenDrinks event at La Fermata. Dave from Full Circle Farm will be the speaker. He came to our place last week to talk about us being a host site for their CSA program, which we are really excited about! This should be an extra fun green drinks and I would love to see you all there! I will be there at 5, though it is open house and runs until 8 pm.
The next event we are doing is at the Libraries, both in Silverdale on the 13th and Port Orchard on the 23rd. They have asked me to give a talk on wine, which I entitled "For the Love of Wine", in homage to Valentine's day. I am excited to talk about wine and loving it! Each talk will be followed up with a tasting nearby (the Library cannot have wine on premise) so the Silverdale tasting will be at Monica's and the Port Orchard tasting will be at Puget Sound Wine Cellars. It will be tons of fun for all types of wine drinkers!
I am extremely excited to have been asked by the Sound Publishing Group to write a local food column for their 'What's Up' section of the area newspapers. I wrote my first column for last week's paper, though it got postponed because the whole section was 4 pages shorter than usual and they had to drop some things. I am really hoping it gets in this time and I would love to hear feedback and suggestions from you! What does local food mean to you and what would you like to know about it? What information would you like to share? What do you wish everyone knew? There is lots of potential here for us to get the word out and the movement going to generate a strong local food network! I will post a link to the article once it does come out and you can get back to me on the rest.
I have been in the mood for beans and rice and that sort of thing, so yesterday I made up a huge pot of lentils and sausages. For our vegetarian/vegan friends all you need to do is use veggie broth and whatever you use for sausage, although they could be left out all together. This is a hearty dish and could be a side dish if you prefer, though I just ate a big bowl of it for breakfast. Please note that for most of the veggies, I just processed them quickly in the food processor so that they pieces were tiny and melted right into the dish. You can finely chop everything by hand if you do not have a food processor.
Makes a smaller pot than what I did:
4 sausages (I used spicy Italian-use what you like)
Olive Oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 TBS tomato paste
3-4 carrots, finely chopped (chop up the greens if you have them on)
2-3 celery, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp cinnamon
salt and pepper
1/2 lb french green puy lentils (or whatever kind you like)
1 1/2 c red wine
chicken broth
1 bunch red chard or your favorite green, torn into manageable pieces
2 cups broccoli, chopped
Italian parsley, chopped
You can leave it like this and it will be fabulous! Or you can sneak in more flavor and veggies that no one will know about like this:
On the same pan roast some cauliflower with a drizzle of olive oil; 1-2 bell peppers of any color (whole) and 1 poblano or other spicy chili (whole). Remove them to cool as they are done. Deskin, deseed and destem the peppers and chili, throw it all in the food processor and blend the heck out of it. Stir it in to the pot and no one will know it is there, but they will notice the great flavors, texture and of course the nutrients will pack it up nicely!
Otherwise... brown the sausages in a bit of oil and set aside.
Add a couple of TBS olive oil to the pot and throw in the onions and tomato paste. Cook them on med low, stirring once in awhile to keep from sticking. As they begin to deepen in color toss in the carrots and celery and cook them until they are sweating, about 5 minutes.
When everything is humming happily along in the pot, add in everything from garlic through lentils and stir it up nicely. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring to keep everything coated, and then pour in the wine. In the words of Lydia Bastianich: "remember: cooking wine is drinking wine and we never cook with anything that we wouldn't want to be drinking".
Keep it stirring for a minute or so and then pour in enough chicken broth to cover the lentils. Slice up the cooled sausages and put them in along with the chard, broccoli and parsley, and season with a bit more salt and pepper. If you need more liquid to make sure everything is mostly covered, add it now, stir it up, cover and turn it to low heat. If you pureed the extra veggies this where you will add them in.
Let it bubble away for about 20 minutes and then give it a stir. When you put the lid back on don't seal it up, but tilt it off to the side just a bit so there is a small gap. Let it bubble away for anther 20 minutes or so and check it. If the lentils are tender you are good to go... everything else will be cooked just fine. If it needs more time it won't be much more, most of the liquid will be gone and you should check for seasoning, you may want to add salt and pepper to it.
We like to add hot sauce, you could serve it on rice to bulk it up if you don't have the meat in it and this will keep you very warm this winter! Buon Appetito!
January Jubilance
Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I am not sure I ever thought the year 2010 would be real to me when I was a kid. That seemed so far away! And here we are, 4 days in and we should probably start Christmas shopping so we don't get too far behind! Just kidding...sort of. Did you ring in the new year? To many people I know it is not really a big deal, though I love celebrating the new year even if I do celebrate it on East Coast time. I have been excited to write this because our New Year's Eve celebration dinner was SO FABULOUS that I even got a copy of the menu so I would not forget a thing about it. Mark and I went to Brix 25 because we know we can depend on them for fabulous service and food... and it was even better than we expected!
First, I know you are dying to find out how the wine was. Mark's Uncle Johnny gave us a bottle of wine for Christmas: Siskiyou Vineyards (Oregon) 1987 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. (Siskiyou Vineyards is now Bear Creek Winery) and we had no idea how it had cellared all these years. We got to the restaurant and were greeted by manager Jason Winniford who was on crutches and sporting a cast boot! I was feeling for him for sure since my ankle has still not fully recovered from that fateful fall in the kitchen-but I digress. Jason took our bottle and brought a decanter for it. As he peeled away the outer layer to reveal the cork, it did not look promising. The cork was soft and there was quite a bit of 'crud' that was crumbling off it. He was very careful in opening the bottle and did a perfect job of not getting any cork or crud into the wine. He decanted and then poured...and we sniffed. So far so good... swirling and letting it open and sniffed again: It smelled great! I took a tentative slurp and it was glorious! Jason shared a glass with us and this wine really was a very good wine. As it opened and blossomed throughout the evening we went from plums to prunes, molasses, tobacco and a little spice. It went nicely with a few of our courses and it was a marriage made in heaven with the beef.
They start every guest with a glass of sparkling wine and that is only the beginning of the great service they offer at Brix. Next comes some fresh bread and 2 compound butters that change nightly (I think). Ours was a black pepper butter (YUM!) and a marsala butter, which had a hint of sweetness to it. This is the only restaurant where I actually put butter on my bread! After all, if they are going to focus on details so well as to personalize their butters, I am going to appreciate that. As Mark and I perused the main menu I saw sturgeon and knew I was in for a treat. It is my favorite swimming fish, after all! Then Mark said-rather tentatively- that I should look at the fresh sheet. There were 2 special menus: A 4-course New Year's Eve Menu and a 5-course Old Year's Night Menu. (Each course was offered with a perfectly paired wine, which would have been great but we had Uncle Johnnie's wine and did not need 11 more glasses.) We decided to share those 2 menus and we did not regret one single thing..unless of course you count wanting more oysters as a regret.
The first course was the Grilled Romaine Caesar (which is on their regular menu and remains my favorite salad ever!) and an Apple & Endive Salad with apple cider dressing, Rogue Creamery (Oregon) Blue Cheese, & toasted pecans. Luckily Mark loved that one even more than I did so I got a bit more than my fair share of the grilled romaine. Yay!
Next came the broiled oysters that had a touch of sweet and a touch of acid, both from a sabayon (fancy for foam) of preserved lemons, and dropped down on them was some caviar. Divine! We really did want more...though we by no means left hungry!
The next course was a Seafood Bisque with butter poached lobster, jeweled yam gratin, and a buttermilk foam. It was rich and velvety and truly lovely. We also got the Japanese Braised Pork Belly (I forgot to ask what made it Japanese) with a drizzle of mulled berries and molasses, and a drop of dijon. This pork belly was so tender and supremely cooked that I wanted to run back and kiss Chef Lyman! It melted in my mouth and the cuts were carefully chosen and had a fantastic meat-to-fat ratio.. I have never had pork belly done better than this. It brought out beautifully a smokiness, and certainly the molasses, I was tasting in the wine.
The 'main' courses were Grass Fed Filet Mignon, cooked perfectly medium rare, and served with a caramelized onion bread pudding, baby carrots and green peppercorn 'jus'. A bite of this beef with a sip of the wine and our tastebuds were transported! Then I tasted the Oven Poached Black Cod. The fish was poached in white wine with capers, dill and shallots, and served over a bed of kale, which topped lemon risotto, and the whole thing was topped with a buerre blanc. Now I have to admit I was not overly excited about having boring ol' cod with a too-rich butter sauce. I knew it would be good, you know, just fine for sure. HA! How I underestimated the talents of this kitchen! First of all the cod was as tender as butter and the flavors were full and beautiful! Then I tasted the lemon risotto, which you know I was skeptical of since I make a mean risotto...and the bright lemon flavor floored me! The rice was creamy and perfectly cooked, which is so hard to do in a restaurant! Ok so all aspects were superb until I tasted them together: buttery (and NOT too rich!) sauce, tender fresh fish with a salty tang of capers, a fresh herbiness of dill, a sweetness from the wine, shallots & rice, and then the burst of lemon combined to make it SUBLIME! I will rethink my attitude towards black cod, thank you Chef Lyman!
We were quite sated at this point and with dessert still to come we needed a moment. We had taken our time through these courses and 2 hours later we were just finishing up. Yes, I asked for more bread so we could sop up the sauce...I am always willing to forgo class when the food is that good! Be warned if you are dining with me! Mark did it too...
We enjoyed their locally roasted coffee and then our lovely and talented waitress, Holly, brought out our desserts. Mark had asked her to bring the recommended wine pairings with this course, so we enjoyed: Whipped White Chocolate Mousse with cinnamon poached pear and fresh berries, which was paired with 2007 Nobility Late Harvest Riesling. The other dessert that I ate way too much of was: Valrhona Chocolate 'Snickers'-a de-constructed dish of house-made chocolate/almond nougat, hazelnut semi freddo (sort of like an ice cream) and crispy salted caramel, which was presented in sheets (like gelatin sheets, only way better!) and this was served with Churchill's 20 Year Tawny. Oh. My.
We savored each course, lingering and enjoying every bit of it. We made reservations for Valentine's weekend on the way out. This particular location has been our favorite restaurant since we moved here 12 years ago. First it was an Italian style restaurant called Marco's, then it was Brix 25 under different owners than it is currently, and now Katie Doherty & Chef Thad Lyman have improved it even more. Keeping the manager was brilliant, and (as I know all too well) not changing too much about the menu, though improving it with their own twists is a great business plan! And their menu, much like ours, changes with the seasons and available foods, and that gives them a much greater creative license than a restaurant with a set menu that never changes. Fantastic service and fabulous food will win me over every time! Exceeding my expectations will keep me coming back and of course I will blab about it all over town so that you will go there, too! They are the best restaurant in Gig Harbor and one of the best restaurants ANYWHERE. They are world class and we are lucky to have them so close!
Ok, ok, I will stop blathering, I think it was revisiting the menu that got me going. Now it is back to earth! For New Year's Day both sets of parents came over and we made our Halusky (my family's tradition) and Mark's mom brought their family's tradition of sweet rolls to go with it. We had a really wonderful afternoon of visiting, and Mark finally got to show his parents ALL the Italy pictures (it took awhile) and we got almost all the holiday decorations put away. Or rather, Mark got them put away. It's a nice deal: I put it out and he puts it away. On Saturday we went to see the Sherlock Holmes movie and I remembered that I hate the seats at the Gig Harbor Uptown Theater. It's a great theater with great sound and all that goes with being new, but the seats force you to sit back, which cuts off circulation in my legs and bothered my already sore (from coughing last week) neck. I prefer the rocking style seats where you can sit back if you want to, or sit up straight which I always prefer unless my legs can be up, too. How whiney is that! Sheesh!
We are gearing up for the week and I think that this Friday/Saturday will be the debut of our biscuits and gravy for the morning! Then next week we will have Chicken & Dumplings for our Monthly Comfort Classic Meal. Farm fresh chickens and veggies, how can that be anything but fabulous?! We are also focusing our soup & salad specials (as always) towards wholesome, healthy options for those who are renewing their commitment to healthy eating, and we are even going to have some smaller cookies and 'better' dessert choices offered this month to help folks get on track. We are nothing if not supportive of our community!
I saw my favorite tv chef (Anne Burrell) do an interesting cauliflower ragu and so I am going to present that to you for this week's recipe, though I am going things a bit differently than she did. This is a great thing to eat on it's own, with some polenta, on some pasta, or as a side dish. It is wintery and warm and quite easy to make, so go ahead and make it!
Cauliflower Ragu
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
Kosher salt
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28-ounce) can Italian plum tomatoes (always buy whole tomatoes-I prefer San Marzano) crushed by hand or run through a food mill.
Water or broth (chicken or veg, your preference)
1 large head cauliflower, divided into bite-sized florets
1 lemon, zested
1/4 cup slivered Gaeta or kalamata olives
1/4 cup sliced caperberries, cut into thin rounds (or more olives if you can't find the caper berries, which are near the olives in the grocery store)
A good bunch of Italian Parsley, chopped
Preheat the oven to 350
Coat a large saucepan with olive oil. Add the onions and bring to a medium heat. Add a generous pinch of salt and a small pinch of crushed red pepper. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until the onions look wilted and cooked but do not have any color. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and 3/4 of a can of water (or broth), and season with salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 to 30 minutes. Taste, it should taste good.
Toss the cauliflower with olive oil, salt & pepper. Spread out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and put into preheated oven. Turn after 20 minutes and let it roast another 15 before checking. When done it should be really soft with some caramelization on the outside. Add the cooked cauliflower & parsley to the tomato mixture. Cook the cauliflower in the tomato sauce until the cauliflower has completely broken up and the sauce clings to the cauliflower, about 20 to 30 minutes. Taste to see if the seasoning needs to be adjusted. Stir in the lemon zest, olives and caperberries.
Enjoy!!!