Sunday, April 3, 2011

And then...

Magalista Soap

When I looked at the date of my last post, I had conflicting emotions. First I thought to myself, whoa, it's been awhile, tangled with the feeling of really? That was just in January? 
Prunella is almost full grown, coming up on 8 months. The two blueberry bushes, named after my parents are starting to blossom and I'm feeling a great need to cut my hair.
My latest crush, Prunella
It's spring and my upcoming vacation has set me on a new time clock. It's called: it's time to get out of town and restart. Two delicious weeks in Belize cannot come soon enough.

Mauricio, Jody & I squished in a photo booth together at Taste!

I like change probably more than the average person. Last year was enough change for three lifetimes, and I should take it easy, but I'm not one to just sit and wait.
Call me impatient, overly eager, or just lucky, but I've found a great match career wise.

People know that I am an incredibly hard worker and it's nice to be truly needed at work. The kind of appreciation usually falls in the "thank god for those volunteers" kind of mentality. That is the kind of need I'm feeling now, so much so, that I have an intern helping me out. And you are fabulous Erich!
I'm on this kick to try and appreciate where I am in the present moment, not allowing my future self to critique everything.

Being present may be the most difficult thing to do. Not thinking of the future, not thinking of money and bills, appointments or feeling the need to keep up with friends and family. I think kids do this best, living in the moment that is. Can you imagine if you were able to preview your life at age 8 and see what was ahead? We'd all hop on trains and get the hell out of town.

And holy smokes I'm co-chair of Seattle Slow Food! "Well that didn't take long to get up to your elbows in this organization did it?" Nothing truer could have been spoken, said long time family friend and creator of Seattle Slow Food, Gerry Warren.
I'm honored and thrilled to be apart of this awesome organization, and my learning curve is STEEP. There is a mountain of work to be done as co-chair, more than a full time job, but like a shark that needs to move to stay alive, I'm definitely alive and on the move. The Mangalista soap in the above photo was given to me by the one and only, Heath Putnam. The man who brought over the Wooly Pigs from Austria. We had a very interesting dinner together at Serious Pie in Seattle, where we talked pig- slow pig and ideas to bring people and mangalista together. A butchering class? Make your own pancetta or bacon together? We shall see. Meanwhile, there is a lot of cooking and wine making to be done. Enough of this sitting around and day dreaming...

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Braised Beef Shanks topped with Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Chorizo, Caramelized Fennel and Onion Confit

....Because it's snowing outside and you need something hot.


Photo by Kevin Fry

Braised Beef Shanks topped with Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Chorizo, Caramelized Fennel and Onion Confit
Serves 4
Pair with Elsom Cellars2007 Cabernet

Ingredients
5 sprigs fresh thyme, divided
4 cups cherry tomatoes
6-8 beef shanks, depending on size
kitchen string for tying shanks
¼ cup flour, seasoned with a pinch of salt and pepper
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
½ cup red wine
5 cups beef stock
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
½ fennel bulb
1 large sweet onion, sliced
1 cup  ground pork chorizo

Preheat oven to 300®F. Toss cherry tomatoes with two tablespoons olive oil, three sprigs of picked fresh thyme and salt and pepper in a bowl.  Transfer tomatoes to a baking sheet and place in the oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
Meanwhile, tie each beef shank meat to the bone, like wrapping a package. Lightly coat beef shanks in seasoned flour, shake off any excess and set aside on a plate. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a large sauté pan with high sides over high heat. Sear beef shanks until browned on both sides. Remove shanks from pan and set on a plate, leaving juices in the pan. Add chopped onions,  carrot and celery to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Sauté for 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly. Add garlic and tomato paste and stir to coat. Cook an additional 2 minutes, add a splash of olive oil if necessary for stirring.  

Add wine and stir, scraping up the bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir. After another 2 minutes, add stock and stir until it simmers. Add bay leaves and two sprigs of fresh thyme. Add shanks to the pan and cover with a lid or foil and place into the preheated oven. Cook for 5 hours minimum, turning shanks half way through cooking.  The meat should be falling off the bone.

While the shanks are cooking, add two tablespoons of olive oil to a medium saute pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add sliced fennel and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir and cook for 5 minutes. Reduce heat and cook an additional 10 minutes until fennel is caramelized. Remove from heat and set aside. Repeat this caramelizing process using the same pan with the chopped sweet onions and set aside.  Use this same pan again and cook the ground pork chorizo over medium-high heat until fully cooked. Drain on a paper-towel lined plate.

Once the beef shanks are done, carefully remove the kitchen string from each one and discard. Serve beef shanks with the bone-in or use two forks to remove meat from the bone. Set a beef shank on a plate and top with warmed caramelized fennel, caramelized onions, slow cooked cherry tomates and a spooful of cooked chorizo. Drizzel a spoonful of the cooking sauce over all. Serve with mash potatoes, creamy polenta or seasoned white beans. 

Photo by Kevin Fry

Monday, December 13, 2010

Vineyard Table Secret Supper Club

"Dining partners, regardless of gender, social standing, or the years they've lived, should be chosen for their ability to eat - and drink! - with the right mixture of abandon and restraint. They should enjoy food, and look upon its preparation and its degustation as one of the human arts."-MFK Fisher

A cheerful bunch sitting around the original Vineyard Table Oct. 25th 2010 -Photo by Kevin Fry
 If you asked me what I love doing more than anything else, it's eating really good food and drinking great wine with fantastic company. I think most of us find those opportunities on the top of our list as "some of the best times we have ever had." Even if you handed me a box of 2010 chablis from Safeway Select and paired it with some horrific Kraft singles, I could find joy in it depending on the company I was dining with. 

Of course if you handed me a slice of homemade pie from your great, great grandmother's recipe that she smuggled out of an Armenian bakery's secret recipe box in her brassier, I might find more satisfaction in that slice of pie.  At the end of the day, it's the overall experience, each component coming together: the music, the wine, the lighting, food and of course your dining partners all help make an unforgettable meal. 

On the contrary, I've had just as unforgettable dining moments when music, lighting and other components were truly out of my hands and thankfully so! All I would gladly replicate if given the chance; a simple meal of clams dug out of the sand on a beach in Thailand, a bottle of wine, a hunk of cheese and a baguette while overlooking the vineyards in San Gimignano, Italy, or eating elk and venison sausage, freshly-cold smoked over applewood in the snow, courtesy of my cousins who hunt.

Therefore, when the opportunity to throw a couple special secret suppers at The Vineyard Table during its last remaining weeks before it got packed up into storage came up, I didn't want to offer just any old dinner party. On Monday, October 25th and again on November 21st, we hosted 22 people at the Vineyard Table for a plated Secret Supper Club.  Below are some images, courtesy of photographer Kevin Fry from the first supper club on October 25th.

The Vineyard Table from above


Me prepping sliced pears
Gorgeous golden beets
Jason Driscoll slicing into the slow roasted beef shank
Caramelizing onions
Some of the lovely guests, Sarah, Lucas and Meagan enjoying proscecco with appetizers before dinner
Plating the main course with Hilary and Jason











The Vineyard Table Secret Supper Club Menu
October 25th 2010
 
Blue Cheese On Apple Slices
Avocado Toast with Sardines and Sherry Vinaigrette  
Prosecco

Amuse Bouche
Apricots with Vanilla and Star Anise Simple Syrup, Burrata Mozzarella and Smoked Sea Salt

Sweet Corn Soup with Dungeness Crab and Tarragon Oil
Bread with Butter and Sea Salt

Red and Golden Roasted Beets with Mache and Herbed Goat Cheese and Pistachio Vinaigrette
Flying Dreams Sauvignon Blanc

Intermezzo
Elsom Cellars 2010 Malbec and Cab Granita

Braised Beef Shanks with Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Chorizo, Caramelized Fennel and Onion Confit in a Sun Dried Tomato Fennel Broth

Dessert with Coffee
Red and Golden Roasted Beets with Mache and Herbed Goat Cheese and Pistachio Vinaigrette
Braised Beef Shanks with Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Chorizo, Caramelized Fennel and Onion Confit in a Sun Dried Tomato Fennel Broth
Kevin Fry caught a nice pic of me smiling in my element- cooking away

I'm looking forward to many more secret supper clubs. Even though the next dinner will be at a new location, it only makes it that much more exciting. I started a blog on the Vineyard Table website to document my search, but I haven't gotten too far on the blog itself. My time these days is spent physically searching and calling on new spaces, organizing Elsom Cellar details, catering and just recently, packing up the Vineyard Table. I know we will do a couple supper clubs at Elsom Cellars winery in the interim: can't you just see it the Vineyard Table lit by candles with wine barrels stained with dripping juice as a backdrop? Yes, I think it's going to be a delicious experiment.

Want to be a part of it? Stay tuned for details! Or email me!

All Photos by Kevin Fry: www.kevinfry.com