La Vie en Rose

The first nice, sunny day of Spring lifts everyone's spirits here in the Northwest. After long, dark, wet winter, it's joyous and dramatic. We can finally get out of the house and go for that long walk along the shoreline, maybe La Conner's main street. That little town is very busy today.

There's a little wine shop at the North end of the main street. It holds something wonderful, rose wine from France. I bought a bottle a few days ago in anticipation of a day just like this one.

What is so special about French rose? Most people think it's similar to California "blush" wines, which are sweet and ordinary. Blush or white zinfandel is a good vehicle for getting alcohol into the bloodstream for people who don't really like wine. That's my opinion, since many of us "trained" on it in our youth. It's one step above wine coolers.

French rose, especially from Southeastern France, or Provence, is an entirely different animal. It is crisp, it is bone dry. Minerally, fruity, complex. Lovely color in the glass, in appears in all shades of pink. It is a red wine, really, made from grenache and syrah in most blends. The grapes are crushed and the skins left in the juice only long enough to tint it a bit. By removing the skins quickly, there is little or no tanin (which comes from the skins). You get clean fruit, but it does include the minerality of the soil, so characteristic of these roses. Strawberries, red currants and subtle flowers, spice and stone, lovely.

Sorry, California. You guys can't do this. The closest I've found to the French style is a very few from South Africa, and I have no idea why.

It is of interest that French law does not allow manipulation of chemistry in wine making. It's all natural. It's against the law to irrigate or fertilize a vineyard, so each vintage depends on the weather for it's quality. That's why you hear that 2005 was better than 2007 for some wines.  Too much rain makes a diluted juice, just the right amount of draught makes intense, concentrated juice. It seems the harder the vines work, the better the product. It's all climate, weather, terroir (soil) and juice. Nothing more.

Other parts of the world, including the United States toy with irrigation, chemical fertilization, and even additives to the juice to make their product. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with this, but it's kinda over-the-top. In the glass it can be too much, all at once. And the manipulation creates trends, one year California chardonnays are over-oaked, and the next year too sweet, based upon the winemaker's whim and blending with the addition of sugar or ascorbic acid.

And the yeast a winemaker uses is his most closely guarded secret. Many of these cultures have been preserved for a hundred years or more. There is one that Taittinger uses that I swear gives their Champagne a hint of honey. They also use this yeast in their California winery at Sonoma (Domaine Carneros).  Many French winemakers use "ambient" yeasts, which are in the air inside the winery or grow on the grapes themselves. These ambient yeasts can create the finest and most unique wines.

The roses from Tavel, an appellation just north of Avignon, are the best. They blend grenache and syrah, but also use cinsault and mourvedre grapes. There is more complexity and intensity in these. This particular rose has been the favorite of kings and popes for hundreds of years. I'll add my name to that list.

Tavel comes in distinctly embossed bottles, a sign of superiority and tradition

So here I am on a sunny afternoon considering a glass of rose. I just have cheese and crackers, but if I had time I'd make steak tartare. That is raw chopped up tenderloin steak with a marinade stirred into it. I like to use olive oil, lemon juice, chopped shallot, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce all whisked together. Stir that in with a few capers and chill it about an hour. I skip the egg yolk. Serve with toast points. Heaven.

Nobody can stand to watch me eat it, so with a little French pop music playing on the iPod, in blissful solitude I am complete.

Cupcakes

It's good to stretch your limits, you know. Out of the comfort zone and into the wild blue yonder from time to time.

I am not a baker. I have fits with pie crust, having thrown the last batch that went wrong off my deck and into the blackberries, chasing the congealed mess with blue language. Cakes come out of the oven smaller than they were when they went in somehow. Bread comes out ok, but it doesn't excite me.

There's a good reason for that. Baking requires precise measurement. When I can't find my measuring spoons because the teenagers have taken them to measure chemicals for making white gun powder, I'll guess at how much a teaspoon is. It's not the same as a teaspoon in a place setting, I know that for sure. Measuring cups find their way into the laundry room and get thrown out with the empty box of Tide. It's not easy keeping kitchen equipment organized and in place when other people live in the house.

Normally, I stick with soups and stews for creative cooking. Those are easy to adjust to taste by adding a little bit of this and a dash of that. It is great fun to make stock from bones and vegetables, because all kinds of tastes can go in there. I'm happy with those results.

But the last few months I've had a hankering for a cupcake. Grocery store product is too sweet, there aren't any good bakeries within an hour of here, and although I can follow directions on a box of cake mix, those are not satisfactory, either. They taste fake.

Cupcakes are a very individual dessert expression. You can bake a couple dozen and make them all look and taste very different. Ice them in as many different colors and there is no limit to decoration. They fit any occasion from after dinner dessert to birthdays and weddings. Everybody likes cupcakes.

I stood in the baking section of Safeway and selected cake flour, new baking powder (thinking what's in my kitchen may have been purchased before the century turned), fresh eggs and powdered sugar. New measuring spoons and cups. I went home and dusted off the Kitchenaid mixer and pondered Betty Crocker's Cookbook. Let's see, will a Betty Crocker recipe work with Pillsbury flour? I hope so.

So many recipes. This first try was with a simple yellow cake, using some butter with the shortening. I will try for form first, see if I can get the texture and appearance I want, then explore variations later on.

These are good. A little dry, but I think I baked them a little too long. The simple icing I finished them with is good. Pink tinted buttercream with this first batch. Pink icing has to taste yummy, right?

Next batch will be lemon cake. I'll spoon a lemon juice glaze over the tops with just a dollop of white buttercream and a candied lemon rind. I can do it.

Skagit Valley Food Co-op

The Skagit Valley Food Co-op has been around for about 38 years. It's grown from a hole in the wall to a real market.

Everybody knows about Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. The emphasis of these grocers is on good quality, healthy stuff, including produce, meats, preserved and bulk edibles. These are corporate giants, in their own way, and purchase decisions are made in offices distant from the point of sale. Here's what's different about our local co-op: This is one store in one location only. It has a board of paid and volunteer staff, who personally visit with and negotiate with local farmers and manufacturers of canned and package product.

There's a list of suppliers posted at the entrance. Skagit Flats Farm, Motherflight Produce, Skagit River Beef, Samish Bay Cheese, and many others... and you can ask about any individual item. The clerks are well-educated on what comes from where. Most have even visited the sites. "Community" is the theme.

Anyone can shop here. If you wish to, you can buy a membership which makes you sort of a silent partner. Membership fees help pay for structure, and in return you get a small dividend at the end of each fiscal year. I joined up several months ago, and I don't know what my dividend will be, but I don't really care about that. I'm happy to contribute to a amirable cause. I'm "one of them" as I push my cart through the aisles of good looking and great tasting inventory.

Members get special deals on some things. I haven't explored that, because I already believe I'm getting great value. Prices are most definitely lower than Whole Foods. Produce is way fresher than Trader Joe's. If anybody has "garden fresh," the Co-op does.

There is an eclectic feel to the display, and the customers are full of character, too. The avant-garde, the aging hippie, and the conservative in the three-piece suit all shop here. The community spirit allows us to say, "Nice day," "Have you tried that hummus?" and other small talk with each other. Customers say "Excuse me, please" as they navigate the narrow aisles, and "Can I help you reach that high shelf?"

You can eat as weird as you want, or as ordinary as you want. They make amazing things out of tofu and grains for the vegetarian diet. There are raw dairy products for the adventurous, but I'll stick with the natural yogurts that have a touch of pasteurization. The meat department is small, but you really only need the chicken whole or cut up just a couple of ways, and beef roasts can be cut up into stew meat, steaks are steaks. It's all top quality.

The whole package makes meal planning more pleasurable. Appetite is summoned and creativity arises. I've never cooked with morrel mushrooms, you might say, maybe I'll bring a few home and experiment. Peruvian yellow ginger... what can I do with that? Go to the co-op's website, and they'll tell you how to use all of their amazing variety. www.skagitfoodcoop.com/ Watermelon chorizo? You can find the recipe at "In the Kitchen With Jill."

The Co-op's investment in community farming and packaging doesn't stop at it's doors. They promote all kinds of businesses in Skagit County that feature local goods. You can view The Local Food Buyer's Guide posted at the Co-op, or you can visit that organization's website here: http://www.slowfoodskagit.org/. They include some of links to some of my own favorite restaurants like The Nell Thorne in La Conner, Trumpeter Public House in Mount Vernon and Rhododendron Cafe in Bow.

Checking out is personable and friendly. The checkers have names you'll remember without even looking at their name tags after several visits.

The Co-op doesn't eliminate Costco or Safeway because it doesn't have absolutely everything, but I find myself shaping my kitchen around what's available here. It's just that much better and that much more enjoyable.

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

I get bragging rights to this dish. I figured out something I didn't see in a recipe, and you won't get on your plate at any restaurant. And it's fairly simple.

Most of my recipes don't have measurements. I look and taste as I proceed, so that's why I'm good at dinner items but a failure as a baker. A baker must measure very accurately, blend precisely, or her product looks like one of mine.

Biscuits and sausage gravy is something that must be watched to get it right.

Here's what you need on hand:

Bisquick Baking Mix

Milk

Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage in the one-pound tube

White flour

I use Bisquick for the biscuits and follow the directions on the package. I can get through that much directing, but I usually just pat them out rather than get involved with a rolling pin. Put em in the oven. Set the timer, but watch them for the right color when done.

Now, the sausage gravy just needs the right start. I use Jimmy Dean Regular, Hot, or Sage. Nothing else, no other brand seems to get the same result. I think it's because there is just the right amount of sugar, spice and fat in this product. It's pretty lean, but not too lean, and the quality of the pork used is good. Spices are well-balanced, too.

Get a heavy skillet down. I use All-Clad, but here is an ideal use for that well-seasoned cast iron frying pan that was passed down to you from Grandma (or bought on impulse at an estate sale because it looked cool).

Brown the sausage at medium heat. Smush it around so it's cooking in a crumbly state. This will take awhile and this is where the magic is. Keep browing it until it is really, really brown. It's going to look like it's getting too dry, but it isn't really. Be patient. When it's all goldeny-brown, sprinkle about three tablespoons of white flour over it, then stir that around so the flour gets heated. Just a minute or two. When you cook the flour like this, you avoid a pasty taste, it's much smoother.

Now stir in a cup or two of milk. You can turn the heat up a bit, since you've been so patient with the browning of the sausage. As the contents of the pan come to a boil, it will thicken nicely for you. If it's too thick you can always add more milk. Your gravy is going to be darker in color than you normally see in other people's kitchens. That's very ok.

You can "stretch" this gravy by increasing the flour and milk. After you've made this a few times, you'll know how to adjust it to your liking.

Split the hot biscuits and spoon the sausage gravy as you like it. I like to grind a little black pepper on top.

This dish is great with fresh applesauce, also very easy. Use two or three gravensteins if you can get them, otherwise any variety with a tartness will do. Red and yellow delicious are really not very delicious and won't work very well.

Peel and core the apples. Cube up the fruit and put it in a small saucepan. Add just a splash of water and some sugar (be conservative, you can always add more later). Slow boil this like you might boil potatoes for mashing (because you are doing the same thing with the apple, with the exception of draining water). If you haven't put too much water in, and if you've kept an eye on the pot and didn't scorch it, you simply smush em up with a fork and you get excellent applesauce. The apples make all the difference here. Experimenting with varieties gets you the favorite balance between sweet and tart. You can dress it up by putting a few dried cranberries or raisins in with the apples at the beginning. Cinnamon is good, too, but I really like my plain.

Chicken Parmesan My Way

I like to cook. I like to look through cookbooks and study recipes. Certain details, ingredients, appearances get my attention but I can't say I follow any directions step by step. That's why I can make dinner courses but I'm no good at baking. Baking, you see, is more like chemistry. If you don't get every measurement just right, you can fail miserably.

I've tried about twelve different ways to make Chicken Parmesan and haven't had much success. It comes out chewy and tough, or the breading comes off in the pan, or it sticks to the pan. Even following the directions to the letter, it falls short of delicious.

But this works for me:

One pound of ground chicken
Two slices of provolone cheese, cubed with a knife
Three slices of proscuitto ham, cut up fine
About 1/4 teaspoon each of garlic powder, ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil, maybe a little oregano
1/4 cup bread crumbs (I used Progresso Italian)
1 teaspoon dried or fresh parsley

You don't need salt, there's plenty in the proscuitto ham.

Mix this all up in a bowl. It's going to be kinda wet, even with the addition of the bread crumbs.

On a cutting board or other clean surface make a 3" circle of grated or shredded parmesan cheese (I used Kirkland Reggiano). Drop a big spoonful of the meat mixture on top of the parmesan and form a patty. Top the patty with more parmesan. You should get four or more patties out of the mix.

Shuffle it into a medium hot non-stick skillet. No oil needed.

Let the patties brown pretty good before turning them. Once brown on both sides, turn the heat low and let them cook through (nobody likes medium rare chicken).

In the meantime cook whatever pasta you like and whatever sauce you like. I like to use spaghetti or fettucine. When I'm lazy, I use jarred sauce like Contadina Marinara.

Here's the magic: the parmesan cheese on the outside of the patty gets brown and crispy. It won't stick to the non-stick skillet, but it'll hang onto the meat really well. Also, ground chicken with cheese and ham stirred into it will not get dry. Chopped meat, having practically been chewed for you, is always tender.

You could add chopped green pepper, fresh onion and/or garlic, or a little dried red chile, or black olives if that sounds good. There are many ways to vary the recipe.

This is what the plate looked like tonight:



I haven't seen this recipe anywhere... maybe it's one of those rare original ideas. I got the idea looking at cheeseburgers frying in a skillet.
You can use extra lean ground beef, too. The Dakota beef at Costco is especially good. I mix a beaten egg, a couple teaspoons of Worchestershire sauce, garlic, pepper, and grated cheddar cheese into it. No bread crumbs. Then I pat blue cheese crumbles on the outside. Baked red potatoes and corn on the cob would be good with this, I think.
Buon Appetito!