Local Mushrooms are here!

It’s mushroom heaven right now! In the FALL, Butter Mushrooms grow in large clusters in our backyard. They are very delicious and so convenient. They tend to grow under oak trees or pine trees. They are yellow and grow in cluster of 10-20 mushrooms. Each mushroom is about 2"-4" across. Very tasty mushrooms and if they grow in my backyard, maybe they grow in yours.

Right now what is growing are Chanterelles. They don’t come up in abundance every year because they need lots of rain and then some sun. But this year, because we are having an El Nino winter, they are here! If you live in the country, even as close as the Saratoga hills, you can find them. The good news about chanterelles, is that nothing poisonous looks like them. Chanterelles have no gills. While there are golden mushrooms with gills that you don’t want to eat, they are easy to distinguish from chanterelles. David Kinch just picked 120 pounds of chanterelles for one of his dinners to give you an idea of how much is out there.

Chanterelles grow underneath oak trees with a lot of peaty, loose soil. If you step on the soil, your feet sink a bit it’s so soft and loose. You sometimes don’t see the actual Chanterelle but an uplifting of the leafy soil and just a peek of gold.

I went chanterelle hunting last weekend in Carmel Valley and came home with about 3 pounds of mushrooms. I show you what they look like here after we brought them home and then another photo after we brushed them with a mushroom brush. Aren’t they beautiful? Here are two of the larger ones. I placed a fork by them to show you the size. I’ve seen and picked them the size of dinner plates and in Alaska, found one that was the size of a platter!

Obviously, we couldn’t eat all those mushrooms so a friend told me to slice them and put them into a dry skillet over low heat to exude some of the moisture. When they stop exuding moisture (don’t “fry” them), them put them in a single layer on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan and into the oven at 200º for about an hour. You won’t “dry” them but get them to the point where you can freeze them into single/double servings for future use.

I’m going back to pick some more in a few weeks finally learn how to make my own fresh pasta. Doesn’t that sound absolutely delicious? Fresh pasta and chanterelles for dinner! Yummmm!

The Best Sandwich I Ever Had…

Last week, Willie and I were in Hawaii (Waikiki) and we had dinner at Alan Wong. The previous 2 nights we had had dinner on the beach (at Duke’s Canoe Club and at the House Without a Key in the Halekulani Hotel). Both dinners were good, but the view made the food even better. The night we went to Alan Wong, it was raining, which I considered a good thing since his restaurant is not on the beach and I had been thinking “…this place better be good, since it isn’t on the beach!”. Well, not only was it not on the beach, but it was in a nondescript neighborhood on the second floor of a very forgettable building. But, it was OK because the food was, indeed, very, very good. In fact, we agreed that it was one of the very best dinners we have ever had!

[ pics will follow - technical difficulties! ]

The restaurant is one large room with an open kitchen and was filled when we arrived. After perusing the menu, we decided on the 5-Course Menu Sampling with Wine Pairings ($105 / person).

A large party of about 18 people had just been seated before we arrived so it was a while before we got our first course. During the delay, I was watching the kitchen and it was clear they were all really focused on their work. There was no panic – just hard work and it showed in the food. Our first wine, a Sparkling Napa Domaine Carneros, arrived, followed almost immediately by our ‘Appetizer Duo’ and the service was impeccable from then on. (Sorry about lack of detail on some of the wines, but they were not included in the menu detail, so all we had to go on was our waiter’s recitation.)

The ‘Appetizer Duo’ consisted of Soup and Sandwich and Alan Wong’s signature appetizer, Poke-pines. The sandwich, which I would like to have for my last meal (as well as many other meals!) was toasted crispy, buttery bread stuffed with foie gras, melted fresh mozzarella cheese and kalua pig. It was absolutely terrific. I would never have thought of combining these three ingredients, but they were perfect, especially with the heirloom tomato soup which accompanied them. Also on the plate was the poke-pine, which that evening was made with ahi tuna stuffed into noodle dough sliced to look like a pineapple and then fried like a wonton. It was served with a wasabi sauce. This appetizer combination was so good we were willing to forget about the lack of a beach view, the rain, the delay due to the large party and anything else! Talk about starting off with a bang!

Next was the Butter Poached Kona Lobster with crab dumpling and garlic black pepper gravy. I am a big lobster fan, but this dish was my least favorite of the evening. The butter poaching left the lobster very tender, but mine seemed to be a tad undercooked. We had a Vouvray Champalou 2007 from the Loire with the lobster.

Our third course was a Ginger Crusted Onaga, which was a delight. The first bites just exploded in my mouth with bright ginger and panko. It was fabulous. The Onaga came with organic Hamakua mushrooms, crunchy corn and miso sesame vinaigrette. The juxtaposition of the various flavors and textures was amazing. Our waiter told us that Wong is very much into supporting local produce and farms and almost all of their supplies come from the big island.

The portions in all these courses were quite large, which is surprising for a tasting menu. But it made me think about Thomas Keller’s rule about 3 bite sizing. He thinks after 3 bites, your taste buds get worn out and it’s time to try something else. This was obvious with the onago as I saw the fireworks of the first bites dulled after finishing the later bites. (Of course, I could have stopped after 3, but get real!). We had a Reisling Cabinette from Germany with this course, which was quite sweet – maybe too sweet.

The next course was even better; Twice Cooked Short Rib, soy braised and grilled “Kalbi” style. I am a sucker for short ribs and this one was really tender and rich with a complex meaty flavor. So rich, in fact, that I couldn’t even finish mine – and that is saying something! I have never not finished a short rib in my life, but I guess I should have paid attention to T Keller after all! However, as an aside, I took the remains with me and ate it before I went through Security at the airport the next day, and even though it was sort of warm and congealed, it was still fabulous, especially when compared to the Burger King we had before we got on the plane. Ugh! The Honolulu airport needs to work on their food offerings!

The short rib came with gingered shrimp and ko choo jang sauce. I don’t know what was in the sauce, but it tasted great. So did the Beaujolais we had with it and unfortunately didn’t get info about! ARRRGHHH!!

Dessert was also a duo; Chocolate Macadamia Nut torte and cocoanut tapioca with passion fruit sorbet in a ginger basket. I love what Alan Wong does with ginger!! In fact, now that I am home, I am so excited by Chef Wong’s use of ginger that I have his cookbook on hold at the library and am investigating trying to grow some of my own! The torte was crunchy with nuts and chocolate – what can I say – it was chocolate! But I am not a fan of tapioca, so though I tasted it, it just didn’t do it for me like the yummy sorbet and the crunchy ginger basket it came in. Willie, however, loves tapioca and his was gone in a flash! We had a Brachetto D’Acqui Banfi Rosa Regale from the Peidmonte 2007 with our dessert duo.

Just in case we were still hungry, white chocolate macadamia nut truffles came with the check.

If you are visiting Waikiki, we would highly recommend a visit to Alan Wong. They also have a 7 (!) Course Tasting (with wines) but you’d probably have to get in shape for that one! It was one of the best dinners we have ever had and that sandwich…mmmmmmmmm!

Aloha!

-- Sandi W

Ad Hoc - Be sure to plan ahead!

Here's an interesting comment in a review I found of Ad Hoc - which we will be cooking from in upcoming months...remind you of anything?? ;-)

In his introduction Keller writes: “It delights me to offer here a big collection of family meals and everyday staples, delicious approachable foods, recipes that are doable at home…” Right up my alley — finally a Keller book that people can actually cook from! But when I tested the Iceberg Lettuce Slices, I wanted to give up halfway through. The recipe has only eight ingredients (which initially caught my attention), but four of them require sub recipes. A total of 31 ingredients and four hours later, my salad, although delicious, was finally done. His blue cheese dressing requires homemade aioli (no big deal), but the aioli requires oil from garlic that has been confited. The aioli alone had 17 ingredients.

BTW, this comes from a blog called Food52, written by Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs. You might want to check it out.

-- sandi w

Cookbooks for 2010

Before I get into our books for 2010, I wanted to report on the efficiency and accuracy of the SleekSlice mandoline that I now own. Hurray! I found one that works and is only $20! The serrated blade does the trick to create very thin slices. It does NOT have a variety of blades that the OXO mandoline has so it's a single function mandoline, but I have graters of all sizes already and use my different Cuisinart blades as well. I purchased mine at Sur la Table. Their return policy is that if I'm not happy with their equipment or device I may return it at any time. This policy has allowed me to experiment with mandolines until I found the one I was happy with. They are having a sale right now so it's a good time to shop there.

The votes are in and we have chosen our cookbooks for 2010. We are only doing 3 cookbooks this year because of a planned trip to the Grass Valley area to have a brunch and dinner at Sharon’s home by the lake.

For our first dinner on March 20, we will be cooking from New Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies, Najmieh Batmanglij or her other book, A Taste of Persia. A Taste of Persia is in the Santa Clara County Libraries and is only $13.57 at amazon.com. The New Food of Life book is not at our local library, so if you want this book, you’ll have to ask the library to purchase one for you. Or you can buy one, $29.67 from amazon.com.

Our second event will be a weekend in Lake Wildwood sometime in May-June. We will be preparing foods from our own repertoire or from cookbook magazines. Members will bring recipes of their dishes to share and we will reprint them in the blog after the event. I believe the group wants to make the brunch a bakery themed meal. We had considered The Village Baker’s Wife book by Gayle Ortiz of Gayle’s Bakery in Capitola, CA. but it turns out to be a pretty expensive book, $35 for a singly themed book so we decided to forgo this one.

Our August dinner will be from another Thomas Keller cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home. This book is available through the SC Co. Library and is $28-31.50 from amazon.com. Keller’s books are always written in great detail down to the kind of salt to use. This guarantees that our versions will be pretty close to his. All we need is time since his dishes typically have several steps to them. This book should be easier than his French Laundry book however!

Our October dinner will be from an old favorite: Zuni Café Cookbook by Judy Rodgers. It’s available through the Santa Clara County Libraries or $2.98 plus shipping, used, from amazon.com (or $23.10 new). If you haven’t purchased this book, you’ll now learn how to make her amazing roast chicken! Zuni Café is a very popular restaurant in San Francisco that has survived several economic downturns so you know the food is good!

Our last dinner in December is always a Holiday Buffet and spouses/guests are invited. We each bring a dish that does not require a knife; from one of the cookbooks we’ve used this past year.

I may try to put together a restaurant field trip again this year. I’ve met some new chefs who are interested in working with us.

About Mandolins or Mandolines

About Mandolins/mandolines...they can't even decide how to spell this darn device!

This is Sandi U writing....If you’ve been reading my posts, a few weeks ago I wrote about buying a mandoline to prepare a Spanish dish that uses 1/16” whole round slices of apples. Only possible on a mandoline and a WIDE one since the slices are large, round Granny Smith apples.

OK, I bite the bullet and spend $70 on a OXO metal mandoline thinking that if I’m going to buy one, I’ll buy one that was recommended by the "Fine Cooking" Magazine. This blog is also a plug for Sur la Table stores because they have a great return policy!! Anyway, I buy this gigantic thing that I have NO room to store it in, and give it a try for our Cookbook Club Holiday Buffet dish…it does NOT slice 1/16” thin AND the blade is NOT razor sharp.

My cousin Mary gave me a $15 Benriner Japanese mandoline a few years ago. It’s a cheap, plastic mandoline that has a box to catch the slices in and has several different blades for slicing, grating, etc. I love this little device! It’s fast, sharp and gets the job done. My only complaint is that it is very narrow so slicing whole apples won’t work…hence the need to buy a “real” mandoline. . . Hah!

So I return the $70 mandoline and exchange it for the V-shaped, plastic, $40 OXO mandoline….again, highly recommended by the staff at Sur la Table. The good news is that I am going down in price. But this mandoline, while easier to use than the straight-edged more expensive mandoline, does not slice at 1/16” setting. It HAS a 1/16” setting on the dial but when I tried to use it I could not get nice round slices. They came out in partial, irregular slices.

So, a couple of weeks later, after the holidays, I return the $40 mandolin and exchange it for a $20, plastic, “Sleekslice” mandoline. It is wide enough, to be sure but does not have two legs. It has three. The third leg can be maneuvered into a “handle” so you can hold the mandolin over a bowl. It has different settings for thickness AND the blade is finely serrated, like the cutting blade on my Cusinart. The thing collapses down to 1-1/2” thickness so storage is not a problem either.

Can this be the solution?

And, so cheap???

And, never even mentioned by “Fine Cooking” magazine?

Stay tuned, I’m giving it a try tonight! I was tempted to buy the ceramic bladed Kyocera device but it wasn’t wide enough...sigh.

If this doesn’t work, I’m giving up and cutting the apples in half before slicing them on my trusty Benriner! I sure hope I get to use this thing more often than just for this one salad! Grumble, grumble, grumble….

My next gripe is about knife sharpeners. . .