Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

As you may have noticed by now, whenever possible I like to make things from scratch, but often it goes beyond the expected desire of a chef to make things by hand like pasta, sausages, or breads. More and more I feel the urge to push myself another step, even when the additional workload falls on my shoulders. I'll come in early, work on a day off, and research after closing to not only further myself and the restaurant, but also for the joy of creating an ingredient that many would buy pre-made without thought of how simple (and more flavorful) it would be to make it themselves. All it takes is some planning and patience. The problem is that I'm good with organization, but patience.... not so much. Blame it on a career of working in a business that demands food and decisions to be made as fast as possible. That's fine though; if I busy myself with enough projects, I tend to forget about them until my log surprises me by telling me that they are ready.

Saturday was one of those pleasant surprises. My log had reminded me that it was time to bottle our Housemade Limoncello. My, how time flies!! Modeled after the recipe that I made at home for my own supply, the process is actually quite simple with a little finesse: peel lemon zest without any of the white pith and steep it with 100 proof vodka for six weeks, then add an equal amount of simple syrup, and then steep for another six weeks before bottling. Sometimes additional aging in the bottle is required, as was the case for my personal attempt, but this batch was ready to go (due to cooler temperatures in my home than in our restaurant's kitchen, I bet).

Rather than just offer this as a digestif alongside our desserts I wanted to debut my version in a cocktail that I have been holding back for just the right time. I paired the limoncello with an equal portion of Rye Whiskey (a new favorite of mine) over ice with a few dashes of Peychaud Bitters, a Louisiana brand that has cherry, spicy and anise notes that is far less pungent than the obligatory Angostura type that we are used to tasting. Filled with ice and brightened with a topping of club soda brings this drink up to a whole new level!

As opposed to the other long cured items that I am currently working on (like Guanciale and our own aged apple cider vinegar) there is one culinary tradition that is still very common in kitchens today and yet very quick to prepare, in comparison: Duck Confit. Originally meant as a means to preserve the meat, the preparation involves curing the legs and then cooking them slowly in their own fat, but these days its flavor is so popular, we can't hardly keep it around.

We have it shredded in a couple of items on our menu now, but I wanted to serve it whole, so I crisped a finished leg, skin side down in a non-stick pan in the oven. A classical pairing for duck is cherries, and it is no coincidence that this dish came to be during the rise of bing cherry season, but cherries can't simply be added like vegetables, so I decided to incorporate them into a sauce with caramelized shallots, thyme and a mild beef stock as a base. With some good cooking wine and a little time reducing (and some secret ingredients that I cannot disclose - that's how great this sauce came out!), the foundation was set.

To balance the subtle sweetness of the cherries I sauteed some local, organic wild arugula, and instead of the traditional "starch" that you find on most entrees I went with a cold Herbed Goat Cheese Flan, because 1- I love the correlation between hot and cold, 2 - the herbs (thyme, chives and parsley) really work well with duck and the sauce, and 3 - the slight gameyness from the chevre goat cheese plays well with that of the duck. (and no, I'm not BSing you about this; a lot of time and lack of sleep goes into working out these combinations of flavors!)

I am really happy with they way that both of these specials have come out, and I truly believe that the time that it has taken to make them really shines out, but I can speak from a certain knowledge that in due time, the best has yet to come ;).

With Love,

Cheffrey

Happy 4th!!!

I have to say that July is my favorite month. It isn't only because it is the month of my birthday (the 20th, if you're interested), but also due to the fact that summer and all of its glory is in full swing, launched off with a bang early on for our Independence Day.

July also gives us a lot of my favorite ingredients: a variety of great greens, corn, cherries (I have a great sauce planned for these babies this month), apricot and other stone fruits... Every year I feel like I have more ideas than I do the time in which to use them.

For this week, I wanted to do something rich in concept, but to steer clear of the traditional, heavy sauces that are common with many comfort food dishes, so I went with a play on Chicken 'n' Dumplings, where the chicken is actually the dumpling!

To make the dumplings I ground fresh chicken breasts and then pureed them with cream, eggs, tarragon, parsley and thyme into a smooth paste (known as a mousseline) and cooked them in simmering water by tediously squeezing the mixture through a pastry bag in one hand and snipping them off individually with scissors in the other.

The sauce was something that I have been working on for some time, inspired by the Potato, Chorizo and Manchego Omelet (my personal favorite) that we offer on our brunch menu. I took the rinds and scraps leftover from the wheels of Manchego that we use and I slowly simmered them into a rich broth that I used as the foundation. To incorporate a taste of the season as well as flavor and crunch I added sauteed scallion with local, organic kale and char-grilled corn kernels. I topped it all off with finely shaved Manchego cheese and presented it in one of my new bowls (Dinnerware = Chef Porn).

~ ~ ~

It's funny that when I contemplate American Comfort Cuisine I am often amazed how far that concept can now be stretched, and how quickly each generation has adapted and integrated traditions outside of their own cultural backgrounds to make them new parts of their friends and families lives. A case in point: Sangria.
I like to think that Sangria is like a new version of the casserole for our times; everyone has a different recipe or ingredients that they like to use, various potency and sometimes types of wine (Sangria means bloody, but even I have been known to make the bastard rendition: a White Sangria...), so for this week's drink special I made my basic style of Sangria by marinating red wine with Pineapple, Green Apple, Watermelon, Oranges and Brandy (expect a variation or two this summer).

Regardless of approach, the tradition still rings true; Sangria is just another punch that we can socialize over, share tastes and smiles, and enjoy our time together, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate than that.

With Love,

Cheffrey

Never a Dull Moment

I received a pleasant surprise a little over a month ago when I strolled into the restaurant mid-week with the telephone ringing. To be completely honest, I normally ignore the phone at this point so I can hit the ground running before anyone else arrives (not to mention it is almost never for me), but this particular day I had a light workload, so I indulged myself, to my own delight.

It was a request for me to host a cooking demonstration at the Capitol Hill Farmer's Market, to which I immediately accepted. For those of you who may not know, it is held Sundays in the Bank of America parking lot on Broadway, an apple's throw across the street from our restaurant.

This past Sunday was my time to shine.

I was asked to not only feature the bounty of our Farmer's Market, but to spotlight the greens that have come into season and feature a recipe that is both easy and cheap to prepare. After trolling through the market for the last couple of weeks I decided to emphasize ingredients found at the local market that people weren't familiar with and explain the different ways to use them. So I composed a salad from Alm Hiu, Local Roots, and Alvarez Farms, potatoes from Olsen Farms, spring onions from Ze Chang, "Silly Billy" goat cheese from River Valley Ranch and garlic tops and turnips from Willie Greens (the farm whose organic greens we currently use at the restaurant).

(Click on either picture for more photos, which also includes the recipe that I presented. Email Me if you would like a copy of my outline, which briefly explains how I used each component, as well as other uses.)

The recipe was well received (especially the beet chips), so I decided extend it to this week's special - in concept, since I prefer to challenge myself each time to come up with something new.

Instead of the variety of greens, though, I wanted to use one of my favorite salad components before it disappears until next spring: Mache, a leafy green that is part of the valerian family of herbs and shrubs which has velvety texture and delicate, nutty flavor (sometimes known as "Corn Salad" here in the USA since it grows wild in cornfields). I paired it with the same vegetables - raw turnip and radishes, roasted purple potatoes, crispy beet chips and another end-of-the-season favorite: garlic scapes. Since the Lime-Cumin Vinaigrette that I used in the Demo is already on our menu with a Chopped Salad, I whipped up a dressing with fresh zest and juice of oranges, a touch of thyme, a few sprigs of mint, and a blood orange infused olive oil that I found from California...What a vibrant flavor!!!!

For the main component I really wanted to introduce a nice, mild whitefish such as Sole, but after my fishmonger left me high and dry, I was forced scramble and go with my faithful standby and close friend: pork. So I dredged seasoned scaloppine cuts of pork loin in rice flour (a gluten-free ingredient that has become a bigger dietary request than nut allergies BY FAR) and pan fried them in the blood orange infused oil to duplicate that bright zing, bringing the whole dish together:

For the final installment of the "Equalitini"... I was so busy with the demo that I forgot to brainstorm for this week's cocktail, so like any good leader, I handed off the task to Stacey, who quickly came up with the Hibiscus Cosmopolitan, based from our previous use of hibiscus in a margarita, and which has led to a successful Hibiscus Mimosa that has been offered for brunch lately.

Once she spoke the words of that cocktail's title I knew that she had a hit, and I knew (as before) that I had a creative muse to bounce ideas off of, and with all that can go wrong in a restaurant, I am reassured by the thought that I am in business with someone who cares as much about this restaurant as I do.

With Love,

Cheffrey

Earthy Flavors

Last month when my mom and step-dad were in Seattle visiting, a common conversation for most chefs came up: What was the first thing I cooked. Not just the first thing I did in the kitchen, but the first time I set out on my own to accomplish a dish. Of course, my mother and I have different recollections of what that first dish was. She recalls that it was something know as "Dirt Pudding", which essentially consists of vanilla pudding with gummy worms, topped with ground Oreo cookies. Now, I'm not in the position to dispute her, but I like to think (and tell others) that it was something else.

The way that I remember it is standing at her kitchen counter, methodically forming my own tortellini by filling wonton wrappers bought at the grocery store with fresh chopped broccoli and grated cheddar cheese and served in jarred tomato sauce (if I could only go back in time and show myself the wonderful simplicity of making my own sauce from scratch...). I must have been around twelve years old, and there was just something so exciting about creating something with my own hands and the gratification of being able to enjoy it a short time later. I made those tortellini and many variations over a couple of years before moving on to family recipes and newfound delights like Asian foods before finally deciding to attend culinary school at the age of nineteen. It's funny, though, I can still feel the great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, mostly because it is the same feeling that I still get every time I complete a dish for the restaurant.

So this week's special is a throwback to what I consider my first handmade meal - I even made my own saucethis time!!!

Even though I keep a notebook to jot down the ideas floating around inside my head, a good idea often lingers over time wanting to be built upon, more often than not developing into something beautiful. I had initially wanted to incorporated a braised oxtail ravioli into a steak dish, but after the wonderful way the Ribeye special I introduced a couple of weeks ago came together, I decided to alter the notion and let it stand alone as the main component. So on yet another adventure to Uwajimaya I hand selected the largest pieces of oxtail they had (the smaller pieces hardly have any meat) to be slowly braised like Osso Buco, yielding a tender meat and rich sauce. I chopped the meat, then mixed it with the seasoned sauce to fill handmade semolina pasta dough to form my updated tortellini.

Then for the accompaniment I sauteed red spring onion greens (the tops) with garlic scapes (pictured on the right) and tossed them with roasted fennel, baby carrots, baby turnips and red spring onions (the bottoms), and finished it all with a porcini foam, chopped fennel frawns and the garlic tops/bulbs.

For this week's installment of the "Equalitini", I needed help. Normally, I bang out the heavy opening day prep work and then move onto formulating the cocktail special, but hand-making tortellini is tedious (read: pain in the ass and takes eff'ing forever...), so I called upon Stacey, co-owner and smile aficionado to augment my cocktail inquest. I knew that I wanted to incorporated apricot and fresh sage leaves, but the rest was up to trial and error. After several liquor variants she reminded me about here desire to blend bourbon with sage, when we stumbled on a Eureka! moment. What we ended up with was bourbon muddled with fresh sage and shaken with apricot nectar and a touch of sweet vermouth and a dash of bitters, giving us The Apricot and Sage Manhattan!!!!

Just an example of how great things come from a collaboration of great minds!!!

With Love,

Cheffrey

P.S. - This coming Sunday (a.k.a. Father's Day/Summer Solstice) I will be presenting a cooking demonstration at our local Broadway Farmer's Market . For more info on garlic scapes, spring vegetables and other local delights, see me there around Noonish time ;) More on that next week!!!

Healthy Living, Healthy Drinking!

Even I have to admit that more often than not the specials that I produce delve into the realm of decadence that could make even Guy Fieri shudder. The reasons sound off more like a recipe for a coronary than a biography: a German-Irish chef born in the Midwest but with strong southern influences, who studied French cooking fundamentals at the Culinary Institute of America, and who now pushes the envelope of the whole "Fat is Flavor" concept to the limits (you just wait until my Guanciale is done curing - maybe then I'll push the limits over the edge!). Alas, sometimes even I succumb to an idea that is delicious without leaving you feeling guilty for splurging on a night out.

To be honest, it is hard not to come up with something healthy this time of year, and with the quality of produce that comes from this region, you could throw five random vegetables at a brick wall and end up with something tasty.

I went with a different approach...

In today's economy it can be tough to offer an expensive ingredient such as seafood, but I was able to formulate a dish featuring Ahi Tuna at a reasonable price without sacrificing quality, so I seared the steaks in a cast iron skillet just enough to brown the sides without overcooking the tender meat inside. The great thing about a cast iron skillet is very little oil is required to cook with due to the fact that a properly "seasoned" pan is as non-stick as any Teflon pan, but without the chemicals.

Fish has always acted as a blank canvas for me - a medium of great potential from which to build from, but tuna has the great attribute of being able to be paired with either hot or cold accouterments, and in light of our local "heat wave" (I'll use the phrase loosely for my East Coast follower's sake), I went with the latter.

I started by pureeing the sweet flesh of yellow watermelon and thickening it without heating in order to preserve the freshness of the fruit, yielding a soup with a silky texture that is both bright in color and flavor. I finished the soup by adding finely diced cucumber, bell peppers and seeded jalapenos for a little zing, completing what I like to think of as a unique form of gazpacho.

Though not overbearing, the sweetness of the watermelon needed something to balance it out in order to complete the dish, so I tossed julienned sour green apple, bitter radicchio and shaved scallions with a vinaigrette made from extra virgin olive oil, ginger, garlic, white scallion and Chinese Black Vinegar - an aged vinegar made from rice, wheat, millet, sorghum, and spices that is deep and complex in flavor yet much lower in acidity than most vinegars, creating a dressing that not only bursts with flavor, but contains half the fat of a traditional vinaigrette.

Finally!! Something I can enjoy for myself while staving off the guilt until the impending slap in the face from my doctor after my next cholesterol test!!!

~ ~ ~

This week's cocktail was also inspired by our recent warm temperatures - another concept built on Light 'N' Bright flavors (pun intended), but unlike the childhood toy, heavy on the booze!

So for this week's "Equalitini" I went with a medley of Passion Fruit puree, Guava Rum, and Vanilla Vodka!

As with every version of the "Equalitini" sold this month, $2 will go directly to help fund lawyers who fight for equal rights for gays and lesbians. I can't think of a better excuse to drink!!!

And on another note: this cocktail actually outsold our Regular Tuesday half priced bottle wine night special this week!!

I read that recent studies have found that it was actually better for you if you had two drinks a day, but with healthy food and great causes like these, why not make it three!!!

With Love,

Cheffrey

Relationships

Last week I finally received a product guide from my produce proveyor, Frank's Quality Produce (also mentioned in my last post), outlining the fresh available bounty that they have to offer right now, with emphasis on what's coming from local farms. I have been asking fruitlessly for something like this for quite a while now, but the truth was: they were simply too small of a company to offer the frills that many of us have come accustomed to in this digital age, some of which are already routine for their larger competitors. So why have we stayed with them, waiting patiently through their technological inadequicies? Two simple words: Customer Service. They strive to get me what I want and when I want it, with indifference to quantity or disadvantage to them, and always with personality and a smile; we have a relationship with them, not an account. I'll agree with you in believing that this is the way that every aspect of the service industry should be performed, but anyone who has dealt with a shoddy repair company or tried to return something through a company's "Customer Care Center" has learned that this is not the world that we live in, so I have to admire a business who even in today's world values what the customer wants and employs the best people to help them carry it out; a merit that mirrors the way we feel about our restaurant.

/End Rant.>


What I really wanted to tell you about was the product guide (but, really, I wanted to rant...): it is something that I like to refer to as "Produce Porn" for us food geeks. This little inspiration bomb sent my mind into a spiral - chasing after ideas in every direction at once like a losing contestant on Supermarket Sweep...

Then I was reminded of the trellis my wife and I were talking about building on our balcony and what kind of plants we wanted to grow on it (and what would be safe for our pea-brained cats to nibble on) when I realized that although it was too late for us to grow them this year, I still had time to incorporate Pea Vines into one of my specials. Then the building began...

Pea vines are the top tendrils and leaves of a pea plant harvested in spring/early summer that are similar to spinach yet still retain the flavor and sweetness of peas. They can be eaten raw, but I prefer them sauteed in butter, in this case with Walla Walla Spring Onions (the BEST onion), local Shitaki Mushrooms, Fingerling Potatoes, finely sliced Red Belgian Endive (whose slight bitterness balances the sweetness of the pea vines) and finishing the medley is some fresh Chervil, a delicate herb similar to parsley but with subtle licorice notes that I love pairing with traditional peas.

One meat that I love joining with peas is beef - especially steak... so I hand picked a whole boneless Angus Ribeye that I carved down into thick 6-7 ounce steaks, grilled them to the obligatory perfection of medium-rare before slicing for presentation. To finish the plate, I infused a rich beef stock with the leftover shitaki and chervil stems as well as one of my favorite spices - Juniper Berries, traditionally used as the distinguishing flavor in gin.

~ ~ ~

This week's cocktail special has an added benefit - other than the one that gives you a buzz! For the whole month of June we are featuring "The Equalitini"!!! Though the flavor will change weekly (as usual), $2 of every Equalitini sold this month will go towards funding the fight for equal rights for gays and lesbians. For more information, or if you want to feature the Equalitini at your restaurant, please contact us here.

For the first Equalitini I wanted to do something new, symbolizing progress, yet accessible enough to sell a ton of in order to maximize our donation, so I stewed blackberries with fresh thyme, then steeped the mixture allowing it to cool and let the two flavors meld. Once strained the elixir is shaken with ice, vodka and more fresh thyme, then poured into a chilled martini glass:

Just another example of our philosophy: it is more about you, and less about us.

With Love,

Cheffrey

Making It My Own

Even to me it is still amazing where inspiration comes from. More often than not the final product has nothing to do with where the idea originated. Sometimes I will look at an ingredient and it may be at a certain angle, or in an unusual light and it will instantly remind me of something completely different; not even I could explain the connection, but I like to think of it as a "backwards muse". This past weekend was kind of like that.

Gary Snyder, my wife and I met up with some fellow culinary enthusiasts for a serious food adventure on Vashon Island at the highly sought-after Sunday dinner at Kurtwood Farms, which operates primarily as a creamery producing amazing small batch cheeses and is owned and executed by Kurt Timmermeister, a former Seattle restauranteur.

I'll spare you the complete lowdown, since there are already many compositions out there, including an article devoted to him in Food and Wine, but I do have to state that EVERYTHING you eat is produced on the property, minus a few basic pantry items. As a chef, I relished the level of quality that the meat, eggs and produce embodied, but what really blew me away was Kurt's glowing gratification of the fact that the foods that they were serving were quite literally the fruits of his labor.

Before going I was banking on inspiration from the intensity of flavor of local produce in season, but it was the aspect of "handcrafted" that truly exhilarated me. This stirred the desire to not only use the obligatory seasonal vegetables, but to forge the ingredients of my next special myself.

Now, of course, I cannot farm the produce for the restaurant on the balcony of my condo on Eastlake, so I'll source the vegetables from my purveyor Frank's Quality Produce (who has a stand in Pike Place Market) and do the rest on my own.

So I start with protein: I have been wanting to make my own sausages, so I incorporated a recipe I developed for wild game meatballs using coriander and juniper berries by using wild boar and some extra fat for succulence, and encased it by hand. I poached the coils, then finished them off on the grill before slicing into thin rings.

I found that corn has shown up abundantly early in the market so I grilled the kernels, saved them for the final dish, then grilled the cobs again, which I used to make a hearty grilled corn stock that I used as a base sauce for this dish.

Last, but certainly not least, I mixed fresh, blanched spinach with tangy sour cream, grated parmesan cheese, eggs, flour and seasonings that I shallow poached in batches to form pillowy soft dumplings that were combined with the grilled corn stock, tomatoes, reserved corn kernels and sausage, and finished off with fresh chopped dill and more parmesan.

Maybe not my prettiest concoction, but what a wave or flavor it delivers!

~ ~ ~

True to my style I decided to impose a twist on what has now become a cocktail staple in bars and restaurants across America, and even if you don't habla espanol, I bet you know this one word:

Mojito

Don't get me wrong, Me Encanta uno Mojito, but with everyone else doing it, why not do it differently? So, for this week only we are offering the Thai Mojito: muddled lime wedges and fresh Thai basil, with a lemongrass syrup and coconut rum, all shaken with ice and poured into a chilled martini glass and topped with a splash of club soda to lighten it up and tickle the palate.

Come and Enjoy the Fruits of MY Labor!!

With Love,

Cheffrey

Winning The Lottery

Not surprisingly, one of the most common questions asked of me as a chef is how do I come up with these specials. The ingredients are usually something that they are familiar with, but it's the composition of them that evokes a "Ah, ha!" or "Why didn't I think of that?!" sort of intimacy that they get from one of my dishes. Maybe food is a more tangible art form than, say, painting or woodcarving, but the process is usually still the same.

I will spare you the intricacies of the inner-workings of my mind (unless I run out of things to write about...), but at least for this week's special I can say in hindsight that it looked a lot like a lottery machine: basic ideas that haven't yet come to fruition flailing around until they are sucked up, usually out of order, revealing the final outcome, win or lose.

Well, not exactly. There is always a method to the madness, and there is also the fact that I HATE TO LOSE! - especially when it comes to the success of my food, so I guess you could call it a rigged lottery drawing....

So where do I begin? Well, there is a price point to consider. As a restaurant we pride ourselves on the fact that everything we offer on our menu is $15 or under, including full-sized portions of fish and steak, so more reasonable cuts of meat need to be featured without sacrificing flavor, and as past posts attest, I love the price and versatility of pork (but that doesn't mean some local wild salmon won't make an appearance soon....)

Also, as much as I hate to admit it, this blog has now played a contributing factor in my decision process. I have to stay on my toes. I can't just stamp out old ideas rehashed enough to fit the current trend with seasonal insertions - if I did this blog would read more like The Lawrence Welk Show transcripts more than anything else...

Finally, to be honest, my mother and step-father were in Seattle this weekend, so I tried to think of a dish that they would enjoy, from both an accessible standpoint as well as something that would intrigue the palates of world travelers.

So here are the winning numbers:

I started with a whole loin of pork, trimmed of any fat and cut into one inch thick medallions, which were marinated in a blend of extra virgin olive oil, shallots, garlic, lemon zest, lime juice, and a medley of herbs. After resting for a couple of hours I pounded each fillet into tender quarter-inch cutlets to be double breaded with sourdough soft pretzels that have been dried and ground into a fine powder, with a mixture of eggs and sour cream to both bind the breading, and to accent the subtle tartness of the sourdough pretzel crust, which is finished by pan-frying the cutlet to order in clarified butter (think of it as a pork pretzel Milanese).

Then I topped the crispy foundation with a salad of watercress - a leafy green within the mustard family that has a slightly bitter and peppery note to it - grilled Walla Walla spring onions, slow roasted tomatoes (a favorite of mine;), finely grated manchego cheese and dressed with a truffle mustard vinaigrette which complements the pretzel crust even more so than the watercress.

A dish even a Mother could be proud of!!!!

This week's drink special was inspired by a recent walk through of our local Asian market, Uwajimaya, a favorite muse of mine. I love strolling the aisles to mull on upcoming dinner specials for the restaurant, and for home as well. While there recently I had come across a bottle of organic hibiscus syrup sweetened with pure agave. Hibiscus is a type of flowering plant that has a wide variety of uses that are healthful such as a natural diuretic and a potential to reduce high blood pressure, but I have to be honest, my use of hibiscus is far from such intentions.

I love it's floral notes with a sweet and sour flavor that I could name ten uses right off of the top of my head, but the first thought that came to me was how beautifully it would work as a margarita. So with a healthy dose of Hornitos Plata tequila and an accent of lime and Triple Sec, the Hibiscus Margarita is here for your enjoyment!!!!!!

By the way, the first most asked question of me as a chef is "What's your specialty?". For this I only have one answer: To be a great chef I must have many specialties; to limit myself to just one would be limiting my guests to just one.


With Love,

Cheffrey