Gabrielle Perdrizet and me, spring 1977, ready for the Montgomery High School Senior Prom. Santa Rosa, California

I took my prom date to dinner at the French Laundry.  No, really, I did.  In 1977.  Granted back then it wasn’t the French Laundry it would grow up to be.  The French Laundry now owned by uber-chef Thomas Keller.  The world renowned French Laundry; a place where everyone who knows good food wants to eat at least once in their culinary lifetimes.  This past spring I was in the Napa Valley (where the French Laundry restaurant is located in the town of Yountville) and I went to the restaurant.  It was closed as I was there between the lunch and dinner services.  I didn’t have plans to eat at the restaurant.  I wanted to see the building.  I wanted to see if it was true; that I actually did take my prom date, the beautiful and very French, Gabrielle Perdrizet (see photo) to dinner at the restaurant before we went to our Senior Prom at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, California, thirty-three years ago.  It was.  I did.

Keller Buys the French Laundry

In 1994 Thomas Keller purchased the building that the current French Laundry is in.  The beautiful stone building dates back to the 1880s when it first served as a saloon.  When alcohol was outlawed within two miles of Yountville it became a brothel.  In the late 1920s it became a French steam laundry.  In 1974 the Mayor of Yountville, Don Schmitt, and his wife purchased the building and opened a restaurant naming it the French Laundry.  The name stuck and when Keller came along he kept it.

I went to high school in neighboring Santa Rosa in 1976 and 1977 during the time that Mayor Schmitt owned the restaurant.  I have no idea how I even knew it existed.  I may have read something about it in the newspaper, or maybe I saw it on a family outing to the Napa Valley.  What I do know is that once Gabrielle, a French foreign exchange student, accepted my invitation to attend the prom it only seemed fitting that we go there.  Yountville is almost twenty-eight miles from Santa Rosa; it’s over hill and dale, it takes close to an hour to drive to.  I think we arrived at the restaurant at five-thirty.

My mother let me borrow her fading powder blue V.W. Hatchback.  The car didn’t have a lot of power, we sputtered along as there were problems with the muffler.  We made it there and back.  I don’t remember what we ate.  To my young developing palate it was the most amazing meal I’d ever eaten — at least in my current memory.  I do remember that we sat at a table next to a window looking out on to flower boxes, or possibly flower beds.  I know we had a good time.  It was Senior Prom after all.  And I don’t have any pictures; we didn’t take a camera, it was before the days of photographing everything.

The 12 foreign exchange students who attended Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, California, during the 1976-77 school year. The countries represented here are Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Sweden (x2), Greece, Scotland, France (x2), and Denmark

All Things French

My introduction to all things French happened in 1976, the year before the infamous prom date, when at the age of sixteen I went with my French class on a week long trip to Paris.  It was my first time out of the country, my first time to Paris, and I fell in love hard.  I loved Paris, and everything about it, I still do.  It was an eye-opening experience that led to a lifelong connection to the country and its people.

There were twelve foreign exchange students during my senior year of high school, two of them were French.  My interest in all things French grew further as I came to better know Gabrielle and Amélie, the two French exchange students.  Gabrielle became my girlfriend and prom date.  So being the budding Francophile and wanting to impress Garbrielle, I chose a place that seemed to be French for our prom dinner.  At least it had the word French in the name.  I probably thought it served French food although now I can’t say if it did or did not.  No matter what type of cuisine, nor how good or bad it may have been, I have the memory of the experience.  That’s enough for me.

Me in front of the French Laundry, Spring 2010

Now to the Gap

Through my friendships with Gabrielle and Amélie I was introduced to the idea of working in France as an au pair, or mother’s helper.  I did it.  After I graduated from high school I went and lived in France for a year where I took care of four French children.  I returned home knowing how to cook French food, and speaking French.  The experience cemented my relationship with France.  It’s now like a second home.  It also started me on a path of cooking both professionally and personally that I remain on today.

So after my year in France I returned to Northern California and began my professional career in the restaurant and retail food businesses; it was San Francisco in the early 80s.  All was going very well.  I was working in top restaurants with top chefs.  Then I decided I wanted to work in the film industry which I started to do after graduating from the New York University Film & Television program in 1988.  I slowly moved into film and away from food.  I missed the advent and rise of a chef named Thomas Keller.  It was the late 90s and Keller’s star was truly ascending, and I kept hearing things about a restaurant called the French Laundry that Keller owned.

Photo by Jo Stougaard

I often wondered: is this the French Laundry I took Gabrielle to for our prom?  It sort of gnawed at me.  Could it really be the same place?  It was so famous now.  In the early 80s when I was working in San Francisco restaurants I went to the Napa Valley often but this was before the arrival of Keller, and his ownership of the French Laundry.  Until this past spring when I went to the area to attend the Cochon 555 event I wasn’t sure if it was the same place or not.  One thing I did know: while I was there I would be stopping by the French Laundry to see for myself.  I did, and it is, or was, the same place I’d been to all those many years ago with my prom date, the lovely, the beautiful, the very French, Gabrielle Perdrizet.

So it’s true.  I took my prom date to dinner at the French Laundry.  I recently told this story to a friend and he told me he took his prom date to White Castle for dinner.  (He went to high school in New Jersey.)  Where did you take your prom date to dinner, or where did you have dinner before the prom?

Bon appétit!

KCET Top 10 List: I wrote this piece for LA-based PBS station, KCET ~ ‘Walking and Eating in Atwater Village: A Top 10′

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto, Spice Dreams by Sara Engram and Katie Luber, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.

]]> http://www.100miles.com/prom-date-the-french-laundry/feed/ 14 http://www.100miles.com/the-local-report-pazzo-gelato/ http://www.100miles.com/the-local-report-pazzo-gelato/#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:02:53 +0000 Charles Thompson http://www.100miles.com/?p=2634

5.9 miles, about 9 minutes, from my home in Atwater Village.

Pazzo means ‘crazy’ in Italian.  In the case of Pazzo Gelato it means ‘crazy good’ Italian gelato and sorebetto.  Pazzo Gelato has been at its Silver Lake location on the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Hyperion Ave. since 2006.  Forage is a couple of doors down, and Casbah Café sits catty-corner across the street.  This intersection is the real nexus of Silver Lake in my opinion.  Sunset Junction is officially one block north on Sunset Blvd. at Santa Monica Blvd. but these four corners are where it all happens, the true heart of Silver Lake.

Now that summer has finally arrived to Los Angeles, ice cream is back on my mind.  Although it’s never really not on my mind.  A favorite summer evening is to go to Silver Lake when it has cooled off a bit, and walk around, window shop, maybe get a bite to eat, then grab a gelato at Pazzo Gelato.  If I’m lucky enough to snag a sidewalk table, I’ll sit and savor my gelato, and watch the world go by — and go by it does.  People are out, enjoying the evening, shopping, eating, or just strolling.

Pazzo Gelato’s gelato and sorbetto is made using fresh, local and organic fruit, dairy products, and herbs and spices.  Their flavors change daily depending on what is available.  According to their website gelato contains 1/2 the fat than most gourmet ice cream (they use whole milk instead of cream) and less air.  The end result is a more concentrated flavor while also being a tad healthier.  By adding herbs and spices with both savory and sweet flavor associations they kick it up a notch.  One of my favorites is Avocado with Cayenne Pepper.  Another I haven’t tried yet but will on my next visit is Chevre/goat cheese to which you can add fig, raspberry, sour cherry or hazelnut swirl.  Others I have tried and loved: Dulce de Leche, Midnight Espresso with Chocolate Chip, and Chocolate Hazelnut.  I love chocolate above all and their chocolate flavor combinations go on forever.

The sorbettos they offer are based on availability of seasonal fruits but can include Fleur de Cactus (prickly pear), Mango, Meyer Lemon, Lychee, Watermelon, Grapefruit, and on and on.  They only use Valrohna chocolate and Intelligentsia coffee in their gelato and sorbetto, and they use no high fructose corn syrup in any of their products.  They also offer dairy free/vegan sorbetto and they sell gelato cakes.  Pazzo Gelato is a true neighborhood business:  they support local farmers markets, and local distribution, are committed to using biodegradable and compost friendly packaging; and they support the local economy as much as possible.  They partner with such local businesses as Intelligentsia Coffee, Susina Bakery, and Strauss Dairy among others.

Pazzo Gelato rocks!

Pazzo Gelato, 3827 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90026, 323-662-1410, http://www.pazzogelato.net/

*The Local Report(s): are occasional blog posts on restaurants, and/or businesses that either support the idea of one-hundred miles, and ‘living life locally’; or are small, localized businesses in my neighborhood, and/or within one-hundred miles of my residence, that I prefer to support over the larger, national, corporate chains. For other The Local Report(s) please go the Archives section of this blog. Also, I’d love to hear from my readers about businesses that they support in their neighborhoods: write to me at charlesgthompson@100miles.com, or leave a comment here.

Follow The Local Report on Twitter: @TheLocalReport

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto, Spice Dreams by Sara Engram and Katie Luber, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.

Chefs and winemakers can be a rough and tumble crowd.  Throw butchers into the mix and watch out.  Then there are chefs who also butcher.  Time to run the other way.  This spring my friend, Jo Stougaard (of My Last Bite), and I attended ‘Cochon 555 – 5 Chefs, 5 Pigs, 5 Winemakers’ in the Napa Valley.  The name pretty much says it all.  Both of us were curious to learn more about butchering, what goes into the process, and how it’s done.  This event sounded both fun and educational — and it took place in the Napa Valley.  The added incentive for me was that two of my favorite chefs were competing: John Stewart and Duskie Estes of Zazu Restaurant & Farm, and Bovolo in Sonoma County.  So one chilly Friday morning in February we set off on what ended up being a three day food filled adventure which I’ve been meaning to write about ever since.  Hate to use a worn out phrase but where does the time go?  So much went on during our trip, and we took so many pictures, that it would take hours of writing and editing to recount every detail.  This will be a somewhat condensed recap, then I’m going to let the photos that Jo and I took tell the rest of the story.  (For more photos look for the ‘Flickr Stream’ links below.)

Photo by Jo Stougaard, My Last Bite

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Lunch at Chez Panisse, Berkeley, California

Our first stop was on the drive up to Napa from Oakland International Airport:  lunch at Chez Panisse, the café not the dining room.  I had eaten in the restaurant (both the dining room and the café) a handful of times when I worked in the restaurant business in the Bay Area in the 80s and 90s but Jo had never been.  It felt a bit like a pilgrimage.  The restaurant and Alice Waters have become so much more famous since the 80s and 90s.  The fact that Jo, a serious restaurant diner, had not been before made it even more fun.   We ordered a number of dishes so we could really get a sense of the menu and the food.  Everything, the food, the service, the ambiance, was wonderful; we had a primo seat (we also had one of the first reservations); it was the perfect start to the weekend.

Flickr Stream for Chez Panisse

Dinner at Ad Hoc, Yountville, California

Dinner that night was at another hallowed chef’s restaurant:  Ad Hoc. The chef being Thomas Keller.  Ad Hoc being one of many restaurants he owns on both coasts of the U.S., three of which are in the small Napa Valley town of Yountville.  I had heard so much about Thomas Keller’s restaurants but had never been to any.  Finally, I was in one.   It was wonderful.  I don’t think it’s the pinnacle of T.K. hallowed-ness which would have be The French Laundry (down the street from Ad Hoc) but it was a fine runner-up; and it represented perfectly the idea of ‘ad hoc.’  I liked the casual yet professional  atmosphere and service.  The food was hearty and straightforward, no gimmicks, and was prepared with obvious skill and attention to detail.  A garden behind the restaurant provides some of the restaurant’s produce.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Breakfast at Bouchon Bakery, Yountville, California

Yountville is jokingly referred to as ‘Thomas Kellerville.’  He has three restaurants and a bakery in a town that has one main street and a population of 2,916 (based on 2000 U.S. Census figures).  Chef Keller owns Ad Hoc, Bouchon, and the world-famous The French Laundry.  Opposite Bouchon is Bouchon Bakery where we had breakfast the two mornings we were in town.  Beautiful breads,  pastries, sandwiches, chocolates and other confectionery including foie gras doggy biscuits were among the baked goods that people stood in line for.  I wish there was a Bouchon Bakery in my neighborhood.  I’d ‘take’ my coffee there everyday all the while pretending to be in Paris.  It is that good.

Photo by Jo Stougaard, My Last Bite

Stop at The French Laundry, Yountville, California

After breakfast I took Jo on a tour of the Napa Valley, well, a mini-tour actually.  After walking around Yountville where we saw Ad Hoc in the daylight, Bouchon Restaurant, Bottega, Michael Chiarello’s place, and the retail food shop Napa Style, we made another pilgrimage, this time to The French Laundry.  Not that it was open, or that we were eating there, we simply stopped to be food tourists, to take pictures, to peer through windows, and be in the presence of culinary greatness.  We weren’t alone, there were Japanese tourists that asked us to take pictures of them to which Jo naturally obliged.  A side note here: when I was in high school in neighboring Santa Rosa in the late ’70s I took my prom date, Gabrielle, a French foreign exchange student, to The French Laundry in Yountville for a pre-prom dinner.  At the time the building that houses the current The French Laundry was a restaurant also named The French Laundry.  Years later when Keller took it over he kept the name.  The pre-Keller The French Laundry was quite good (at least to my 17 year old palate).  I’ve always wondered if it was one and the same as the place Keller now owns, and has made so famous.  Now I know.  I made my triumphant return.  Now to snag one of those oh-so-hard-to-get reservations!

Snack at the Oakville Grocery, Oakville, Caklifornia

Next we headed further up the Napa Valley to the little town of Oakville where the original Oakville Grocery is located.  I have a personal history with the renowned retail food store in that I worked as a cheese buyer at what was supposed to be the flagship Oakville Grocery in San Francisco back in the early ’80s.  I started just after the store opened and stayed for about a year before moving on to help film producer, Dino de Laurentiis open his gourmet food emporium, DDL Foodshow in New York City.  Those were heady days in the gourmet retail food-iverse.  Oakville Grocery was my introduction to the world of high end, fancy food. My days as a cheese buyer at Oakville are some of my fondest food memories.  It was fun to see the original store again after so many years.

(See below at bottom of post for Flickr Stream for Napa Valley Restaurants & Shops)

Butcher, Ryan Farr of 4505 Meats breaking down a heritage pig. Photo by Jo Stougaard, My Last Bite

Afternoon at Cochon 555, Silverado Resort, Napa, California

The main event, the reason we made the trip, took place on Sunday afternoon.  Cochon 555’s goal is to celebrate and raise awareness of heritage breed pigs like Gloucester Old Spots, Yorkshire, Duroc, and Berkshire Cross.  Cochon 555 events take place all across the country.  5 local chefs are matched to 5 local heritage breed pig farmers and must come up with dishes using their specific heritage pig.  The dishes are then judged by professional judges and the public who is in attendance.  5 local wineries supply the wine.  The chefs competing at the Napa event were Chris Kostow, The Restaurant at Meadowood; Peter Pahk, Silverado Resort, John Stewart & Duskie Estes, Zazu Restaurant & Farm, Devin Knell, The French Laundry and Dennis Lee, Namu.  Each chef created and served several pork-based dishes.  Butcher, Ryan Farr of 4505 Meats held a butchering demonstration where he broke down a whole pig.  Jo and I mistakenly thought the event would be five chefs breaking down whole pigs before an audience of judges and public — so not the case.  It was a tasting event with very good food from all the chefs.  The winner of the Napa event was Devin Knell of The French Laundry.

Flickr Stream for Cochon 555 Napa Event

Late Dinner at Bottega Ristorante, Yountville, California

After the Cochon event ended we still had room to have a late dinner at Chef Michael Chiarello’s restaurant, Bottega.  We both liked the food, the atmosphere and the impeccable service.  Chef Chiarello maintains the high quality that chefs and restaurants in the Napa Valley are known for.   During our three day eating extravaganza I didn’t eat one bad bite.  It was all, every morsel, stellar including the food at Bottega.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Breakfast at Bouchon Bakery, Yountville, California

Again!  Of course!  Where else?!

Stop at Napa Valley Olive Oil Mfg., Saint Helena, California

This was our last day.  We had a mid-afternoon flight out of Oakland International Airport.  I, of course, had a few more things to show Jo.  I’m forever reading articles in magazines and on the Internet, and tearing them out, or printing them.  I’d seen something about the Napa Valley Olive Oil Mfg. somewhere, had never been and wanted to go.  It’s further north in the Valley, up in Saint Helena, and worth the trip.  A tiny place chock full of dried sausages, salame, mushrooms, canned items, and bulk olive oil that is dispensed from a huge metal tank.  A foodie’s treasure trove.  As we were poking around, finding a few things to buy, Jo whispers to me: ‘Isn’t that Cindy Pawlcyn?”  I’d met Cindy years ago, eaten in her Napa Valley restaurant, Mustards, many times but I hadn’t seen her in years.  Sure enough, Jo was right.  We saw her in the parking lot and Jo spoke to her.  It was indeed Chef Pawlcyn.  Oddly enough our last stop before leaving the Valley was her restaurant Mustards.  But first a quick nip into Dean & Deluca – a new addition to the Valley since my regular visits in the ‘8os and 90’s.

Dean & Deluca, Saint Helena, California

I actually remember when Dean & Deluca was one store on Prince Street in SoHo in New York City.  Now it’s a global company with stores around the world including, apparently, one in the Napa Valley.  After we left the Napa Valley Olive Oil Mfg. we quickly stopped in as I wanted to see what this D & D looked like.  All the usual high end food products and produce in a gleaming metal and glass building.  If I lived in the area I’d certainly shop there – in fact as we were leaving Chef Pawlcyn was pulling in and waved to us – but I miss the old store on Prince Street with its uneven wooden floors and overflowing barrels of all sorts of good things to eats.

Photo by Jo Stougaard, My Last Bite

Lunch at Mustards Grill, Yountville, California

When I worked in the retail food and restaurant business in San Francisco during the ’80s and ’90s I made frequent weekend trips to the Napa Valley.  The weekend always ended with a late lunch at Mustards before heading back to the City.  When I first went to Mustards it was Chef Cindy Pawlcyn’s only restaurant.  She went on to open Fog City Diner in San Franciso, the Rio Grill in Carmel, and now has Go Fish and Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen in Saint Helena.  I always thought Mustards felt like an old-fashioned road house both in design and menu.  The food, ‘American Grill food,’ was always good; trustworthy and dependable.  At the end of a weekend it was the perfect antidote for too much Napa Valley wine and the fuel we needed to get us home.  Not much has changed.  A plate of oven-roasted garlic, a perfect cheeseburger with stellar French fries and we were ready for the return trip home.  Our food-filled weekend coming to a perfect end.  Jo and I have been on two food oriented trips together and have had the best time.  She’s a fantastic traveling companion, and I look forward to our next foodie adventure.

Flickr Stream for Napa Valley Restaurants & Shops

Recommendation: Savor Los Angeles, Friday, July 30th, 7pm to 10pm ~ a sweets tasting event of one-of-a-kind bites from an exclusive set of L.A.’s best purveyors of sweet treats.

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto, Spice Dreams by Sara Engram and Katie Luber, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.

Me, age 1, at Avila Beach, California

I have always loved the ocean.  It has always been a part of my life.  Growing up along the Central Coast of California it was a big part of my childhood.  I spent most of my childhood in San Luis Obispo, a medium-sized California city half way between Los Angeles and San Francisco.  From a very young age I swam in the ocean.  My parents tell me they couldn’t keep me out of the water.  San Luis Obispo lies inland from the coast by a half hour driving.  The closest beach is Avila Beach — a place where I spent many a summer day swimming in the waves, body surfing, and playing in the sand.  For my single mother it was an inexpensive way to spend a weekend day; she got to relax in the sun while my sister and I wore ourselves out.  We usually went home sunburned and covered in sand.

Pan Roasted Arctic Char, Cannellini Beans, Baby Artichokes & Preserved Lemons

I have also enjoyed eating the food that comes from the sea.  Being that we lived so close to the coast seafood was a big part of our diet growing up.  Both my great-grandfather and great-uncle fished the Central Coast waters.  My mother often took us to Morro Bay, a coastal town north of San Luis, for fish and chips dinner.  The lingcod used in the meal was caught a few miles out to sea.  In those days no one gave a second thought to overfishing, pollution, and questions of sustainability.  Now we must.  We have no choice.  We are quickly depleting our seafood sources.  I find it horribly sad.

I recently met Martin Reed who started a sustainable fish company called i love blue sea.  It’s a genius idea.  I know for myself that when I’m in a store at the fish counter my eyes cross, I hyperventilate, I can’t remember which fish is the ‘right’ fish, wild, or farmed; all that confusion overwhelms me and I often don’t buy anything.  Martin’s company takes the guess work out of the process.  He sells nothing but sustainable fish, and he ships it anywhere in the U.S, overnight.  Here’s a quick rundown from i love blue sea’s website:  “Wondering where to buy seafood online?  No more guesswork!  Only the highest quality sustainable seafood.  Every dollar spent supports fisheries driving our ocean’s recovery.  It’s a simple, nutritious and delicious way for you to make a positive change!”  Martin recently sent me some Arctic char and asked me to come up with a recipe which I did.  Here’s to the health of our oceans and all the creatures that live in them.

Print Recipe

Recommendation: Savor Los Angeles, Friday, July 30th, 7pm to 10pm ~ a sweets tasting event of one-of-a-kind bites from an exclusive set of L.A.’s best purveyors of sweet treats.

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cochon 555 Napa, a write up of the amazing pork festival that I attended this spring. Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto, Spice Dreams by Sara Engram and Katie Luber, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.

Preserved lemons remind me of places I’ve yet to visit: Tunisia, Morocco, North Africa, Turkey, and some I’ve already visited: Greece, and France.  Primarily known as a condiment used in North African cooking, preserved lemons, or variations of them, are used in many other cuisines.  They appear in Greek, Turkish, Cambodian and even East African cooking, and pickled limes are part of the Indian larder.  I find them wholly exotic in flavor.  The salty, mouth-puckering lemony flavor is a taste experience so unusual to my American taste buds.  It was when I first ate them, and it still is.  I have always loved lemons and lemony things, and when I first ate the rind of a preserved lemon I was most pleased.  I honestly don’t know where or when I first tasted them — it could have been in France in some North African dish, it might have been when I worked at Oakville Grocery, a fancy food emporium in San Francisco.  Or maybe it was in both instances.  Where ever it was I was hooked.  There are many ways to eat them, and to cook with them.  I like to eat them as a type of pickle with chicken, fish or even meat dishes.  Cutting off a bit with each mouthful they add a depth of  lemony deliciousness to any meal.

I have wanted to make them at home for sometime now and recently had a few organic lemons leftover from another recipe.  Those lemons are now becoming preserved lemons.  It takes about three to four weeks for the curing process to be complete.  I also hope to use them in a recipe I am working on using Arctic Char sent to me by i love blue sea - a mail order sustainable fish operation.  If all goes well, I’ll soon have a recipe for Arctic Char with Roasted Artichokes, Cannellini Beans and Preserved Lemons.  If the recipe works I’ll share it here.

In the meantime, here’s a recipe for preserved lemons.

Print Recipe

Bon appétit!

Recommendation:  Let Me Cook For You ~ for my Marin County, and Bay Area readers.  My sister, Traci Thompson, has started a personal cooking service.  She’ll devise menus, do the shopping, come to your house, and cook for you and your family.  She’s an amazing cook and prepares ‘healthy homemade meals for everyone’.

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cochon 555 Napa, a write up of the amazing pork festival that I attended this spring. Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto, Spice Dreams by Sara Engram and Katie Luber, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.

The 2nd Annual ‘Eat My Blog‘ Charity Bake Sale takes place on Saturday, June 19, 2010 and 100 Miles will be there.  Robert and I will be baking several dozen of his famous (via David Lebovitz) Dulce de Leche Brownies and will be volunteering at the event.  If you live in the Los Angeles-area and/or are a fan of Robert’s brownies (there are already a whole lot of you out there!) please come by Tender Greens in West Hollywood between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., and help us support the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.  All proceeds, 100%, (items will cost between $1 and $4) will go to this very worthy cause.

We will be joining upwards of 70 local food bloggers, foodies, celebrity chefs, and restaurants who are donating their own baked goods and time.  We look forward to hanging out with fellow food blogger friends Jo Stougaard of My Last Bite, Phil Nigash of My Life As a Foodie, Chrystal and Amir of The Duo Dishes, and Cathy Danh of Gastronomy, among others.  Local chefs and foodies also coming out include Evan Kleiman, Chicks With Knives, Debbie Lee, Drago Centro, Starry Kitchen, Bakelab, Cube, Fraiche, Choppe Choppe, Hollywood Corner, Plaisir, Scoops Ice Cream, and Tender Greens.  The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf will be pouring a selection of hot beverages.

This is the second year of the charity bake sale.  Last December Eat My Blog raised $3,000 for the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.  “We are excited to partner with the Foodbank again, especially after visiting the facility this winter to see how the money we raised would be used,” said Cathy Danh, author of Gastronomy and founder of Eat My Blog. “It was an eye-opening experience for all of us on the planning committee, and we left that day eager to make an even greater impact this time around.”

Take a look at the Eat My Blog website to see a list of all the participating food bloggers and the delicious items they are contributing.  Then on the 19th come by Tender Greens and buy some amazing baked goods and support the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank — and finally, after you’ve made your purchase(s) consider having lunch.  The food at Tender Greens is really good!

About the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank

The Los Angeles Regional Foodbank is a nonprofit charitable organization that has been mobilizing resources to fight hunger in the community since 1973. The organization is at the heart of a charitable food distribution network that includes nearly 900 agency sites in Los Angeles County. For more information, visit http://www.lafightshunger.org/

About Tender Greens

Tender Greens is a privately held company, started in June 2006, which aims to provide sustainably produced foods to its guests in a relaxed, eco-friendly space. The company continues to expand its environmental business practices and impart a sense of responsibility in the community by leading example. Tender Greens currently has four locations (Culver City, Hollywood and West Hollywood in Los Angeles and San Diego, California), the company plans to expand further within California in the coming year. Tender Greens WeHo is located at 8759 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069. It is open from 11:30am until 10:00pm Sunday through Thursday; 11:30am to 11:00pm Friday and Saturday. Phone is 310-358-1919. http://www.tendergreensfood.com

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Interview with Chefs John Stewart & Duskie Estes, owners of Zazu & Bovolo restaurants in Sonoma County. Cochon 555 Napa, a write up of the amazing pork festival that I attended this spring. Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto, Spice Dreams by Sara Engram and Katie Luber, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.

Non-Food Fun: ‘Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles’ by Charles Fleming.  Robert and I recently discovered this fascinating book about the hundreds of  ’secret stairs’ all over the Los Angeles area.  Fleming documents 42 stair walks centered around these secret staircases many of them built when streetcars were the norm and people needed access from their hillside homes, or for those who lived and still live on walk streets, and use(d) them to reach their homes.  ‘Secret’ because most of them are hard to see from the automobiles we all drive.  We have completed 8 walks to date, (3,688 stair steps!) and what an interesting side of L.A. we are seeing.  Robert has started his own blog, Climbing L.A., and is documenting our journey.   Please read along, or join us (details on Climbing L.A.)  Every walk does end with a meal at a local eatery.  Follow Robert on Twitter @ClimbingLA.

There’s a new butcher in town and boy am I happy. It seems that the neighborhood butcher has gone by the wayside and that more and more people are relying on supermarket butchers. While the guys at my local Whole Foods are very helpful and knowledgeable, there’s nothing quite like the personal rapport one develops with a local, neighborhood butcher. Like the one I am establishing with chef-butchers, and husband and wife team, Nathan McCall and Karen Yoo. I have been in several times and appreciate the hands on service they have given me. Whether it be advice on what cut to buy, or how to cook it the duo is more than accommodating. McCall and Yoo both have backgrounds as professional chefs; McCall cooked at Los Angeles restaurants Café Pinot and Sona; he also spent time in the kitchen of Spain’s Michelin three star restaurant Arzak followed up with time at Daniel Boulud’s Restaurant Daniel in New York City. Yoo, trained as a pastry chef, worked in the kitchens of Campanile, Sona and Restaurant Daniel. Given their experiences in professional kitchens they should be the go-to-butchers for both the professional chef and the home cook. Who better to buy meat and fish from than those who have the experience cooking it? It’s a great combination.

To add to the package they only source their meat, as they state on their website, ‘from traditional farms where animals are naturally and humanely raised on the best feed without the use of hormones or chemical enhancements.’ Their ‘fish is wild-caught and/or responsibly raised in the most natural environment.’ They stock CAB (Certified Angus Beef) Beef, Kurobuta (Berkshire to us) pork, lamb, locally raised poultry (from KenDor Farms in Van Nuys), eggs, house made sausages (pork-fennel and garlic-paprika), and sushi grade salmon and tuna among other seafood. Check the chalkboard specials for such items as duck, rabbit, squab and leg of lamb. They also sell a hand picked selection of gourmet oils, vinegars, salt and pepper, and other specialty cooking products. Given their propensity to be local and sustainable they could almost be a butcher my great-grandmother went to albeit without the sawdust on the floor and the banging screen door. And that is a comforting thought. I’ll be going to McCall’s often. It is so close to home. Welcome to the neighborhood Nathan and Karen!

Chef-butchers Karen Yoo and Nathan McCall

McCall’s Meat & Fish Co.
2117 Hillhurst Ave.
Los Angeles, California 90027
323-667-0674 (ph.)
323-667-0802 (fax)
www.mccallsmeatandfish.com
www.twitter.com/mcallsmandf

*The Local Report(s): are occasional blog posts on restaurants, and/or businesses that either support the idea of one-hundred miles, and ‘living life locally’; or are small, localized businesses in my neighborhood, and/or within one-hundred miles of my residence, that I prefer to support over the larger, national, corporate chains. For other The Local Report(s) please go the Archives section of this blog. Also, I’d love to hear from my readers about businesses that they support in their neighborhoods: write to me at charlesgthompson@100miles.com, or leave a comment here.

Follow The Local Report on Twitter: @TheLocalReport

Upcoming Posts: Interview with Chefs John Stewart & Duskie Estes, owners of Zazu & Bovolo restaurants in Sonoma County. Cochon 555 Napa, a write up of the amazing pork festival that I went to in Napa. Reviews: My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family and Big Sur by Romney Steele, The Spirit Kitchen: Everyday Cooking with Organic Spices by Sara Engram and Katie Luber and Kimberly Toqe.

First of all, I can’t believe it’s been a month since my last blog post. How did that happen? It’s been a very busy time for me. At the beginning of September I celebrated a milestone birthday. Mid-September was the big bash with family and friends from near and far (Paris even!) to celebrate said birthday. I am in the midst of a major overhaul and redesign of my blog. And I started back to my full-time job as a movie marketing consultant. Ack! Just. Not. Enough. Time. Hopefully, that much time between posts will not happen again. I aim to be sure it does not. In any case apologies for being away. I think I am back.

I have always been interested in both food and film; I have been lucky enough to work in both with some degree of success in each. I started my professional life learning to cook in France; upon my return to the U.S. I worked in the food and restaurant industry for many years. One of the jobs was working for the Italian film producer Dino de Laurentiis (Giada’s grandfather) when he opened his Italian-esque food emporium, DDL Foodshow, in New York City. The job started off with many of the Foodshow personnel working out of Dino’s film production offices in the Gulf & Western Building on Columbus Circle. It was there that I met my friend Lori Berhon. She was a receptionist at Dino De Laurentiis Productions before coming to work with us at the Foodshow. That was in 1982; we’re still friends. Lori loves to cook, try new restaurants, and eat well which we did, and do, often in New York, and whenever she makes it out to California.

As mentioned above I recently had a milestone birthday. Lori came out to Los Angeles from New York to help me celebrate. While she was here she mentioned a food and film piece she recently wrote for her company newsletter. I asked her to send it to me and she did. I so enjoyed reading it, and it is full of such good information on foodie films that I asked her to guest blog it on 100 Miles.

So take it away, Lori…

That’s The Ticket!

With summer blockbuster season coming to an end (and where were all the blockbusters this year anyway?), I was planning to take another recession-beating look at rentable substitutes for hot flicks. I began considering Julie/Julia, and I quickly found myself entirely diverted by the subject of food films. There are a lot of them.

A La Cuisine!

Nora Ephron’s new film shows how the lives of Julia Child and Julie Powell are changed by French cooking, but this is hardly the first time that particular catalyst has been portrayed on film. Babette’s Feast, the 1987 film version of an Isak Dinesen story, shows how French food revitalizes the souls of an elderly Lutheran congregation in Denmark and the refugee they have sheltered. If you heard what Julie Powell was able to accomplish in a kitchen closet in Queens and you think that’s impressive, wait ’til you see what Babette Hersant (Stéphane Audran) achieves in an isolated 19th century village.

Lasse Halstrom’s whimsical Chocolat (2000), based on the novel by Joanne Harris, implies that sometimes even the French need a little gustatory shakeup. Boasting a rich and delicious cast, this counts as Johhny Depp’s first ‘chocolate’ film.

The eponymous Vatel (Gérard Depardieu) of 2000, an historic French chef, is ordered to achieve the impossible in a 17th century castle. While unusually downbeat for a foodie film, this well-researched, opulent biopic provides a setting of spectacle and intrigue for a truly mind-boggling feast.

International Buffet

France certainly doesn’t hold a monopoly on cinematic cuisine. The mouth-watering food in The Big Night (1996) is Italian. Like “Julie/Julia,” this film features dramatic kitchen action, period glamour and the always wonderful Stanley Tucci (who also co-directed). The piece de resistance, the Timpano, had audiences drooling and the Tucci family recipe for this baked dome of dough, filled with more layers of deliciousness than a 6 foot Italian sub, was published everywhere. If you find yourself with nothing to do one weekend, here’s a link: The Timpano Recipe (from ‘Big Night’)

In the 1993 version of Laura Esquivel’s cult novel Like Water For Chocolate (directed by Alfonso Arau), a Mexican woman’s hidden passion magically infuses the food she prepares, conveying a galaxy of emotions to those who eat it. For a kind of kitchen magic you’re likely to have experienced in your own life, in Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), a beautiful and quietly funny film by the masterful Ang Lee, food is the medium through which a Taiwanese chef and his daughters communicate love. A few of the many other films that linger memorably over family meals: Pieces of April (2003, before Katie Holmes was half of TomKat) takes on Thanksgiving; George Tilman Jr.’s 1997 Soul Food looks at Sunday dinner; and of course there’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002).

The chef-protagonist of Sandra Nettlebeck’s 2001 German comedy/romance Mostly Martha (aka “Bella Martha”) has distanced herself from family and friends, and form all emotions but anger, until the guardianship of a suddenly orphaned niece forces her to think outside the icebox. Forced to share her restaurant kitchen and to experience life (and food) beyond her control, Martha opens herself up to the possibilities of being human. If the plot sounds familiar, it’s because this is the original upon which Hollywood based the 2007 Catherine Zeta-Jones Rom-Com vehicle, No Reservations.

A different kind of female chef is the downtrodden widow who, while trying to establish the ultimate noodle shop, provides the through-line for the comedy bento box of food motifs that is Juzo Itami’s 1985 Tampopo. For the pregnant Southern Waitress of Adrienne Shelly’s 2007 indie gem, food – or at least pie – is a metaphor for practically everything.

And for a window into what the landscape was like in the world before The Food Network, check out Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? Based on the novel by Nan and Ivan Lyons, this 1978 comic mystery is a dated, slightly hokey, guilty pleasure. Each of the string of victims is found in his kitchen, and the grisly manner of death is related in some way to the chef’s signature dish.

NONE of the films mentioned above should be watched on an empty stomach!

Discomfort Food

On the other hand, there is some foodie fare that might benefit from running on empty: cannibal movies.

Are you imagining Anthony Hopkins relishing “fava beans and a nice Chianti” (slurp slurp)? Or maybe remembering your favorite zombie flick? Sure those have their cannibal elements, but what I’m thinking of is the kind of story that turns tables on the foodie genre.

Eating Raoul, Paul Bartel’s spoof of contemporary (1982) L.A. swingers features himself and Mary Woronov as a nice conservative couple who only want to be together and would kill to be able to open a restaurant. Literally. In the end, cannibalism is the only way to dispose of a most inconvenient corpse.

A different type of necessity drives the butcher of a Delicatessen (1991, France) on the ground floor of an apartment building. In this future dystopia, meat is incredibly scarce and people mysteriously disappear. Do the math. Then add the star-crossed love of the butcher’s and the Chaplinesque outsider hired as a handyman (and future roast) to the complications of this darkly comic tale of survival.

Love and cannibalism figure again in Tim Burton’s 2007 film of Stephen Sondheim’s opéra bouffe Sweeney Todd. In 19th century London, Man is ground up by Machine (both industrial and political). Haunted and thirsting for vengeance, Mr. Todd slashes out. The adoring, but always practical, baker Mrs. Lovett observes that it “seems an awful waste” to just chuck the body out when she’s got a dusty shop full of meatless meat pies. If injustice begets rage and hunger, which in turn beget a psychopathic spree of mass murder and recycling, “It’s man devouring man, my dear, and who are we to deny it here?”

Peter Greenaway turns a lush eye on just about every human appetite in his gorgeous and very nasty 1990 fantasia The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. The fabulous cast is lead by Michael Gambon (yes, there was life before “Dumbledore”) as The Thief and Helen Mirren as His Wife, and includes appearances by both Tim Roth and Gary Oldman. Greed rules.

T.V. Dinner

I don’t care about Michael Pollan’s recent N.Y. Times condemnation of televised cooking as the spectator-sport-of-choice for a super sized population – I love foodie television. Pollan’s demographic wisdom states that “how to” watchers are stay-at-home moms: while the rest of us kick back at night with our frozen pizza to watch other people eat what we wish was in front of us. Personally, I find it beyond boring to watch Guy Fieri chomp blissfully down on another huge portion of grease and/or carbs, and more boring still to hear his litany of empty catch phrases (”now that’s what I’m talking about!” doesn’t tell me a thing about the food other than, gee, he really likes it).

What I tune in to see is chefs, pâtissiers, etc. doing what they do best. The more they know what they’re doing, the more I want to watch, and the more I’m running to hit the kitchen. No, I’m not likely to pit myself against another cook to see how many different things I can make out of an artichoke or to make a fabulous meal out of a basket of incompatible mystery ingredients. But I do love to cook and starting back with (yes), Julia Child, television chefs exposed me to new ingredients and unfamiliar cuisines. I learned new techniques (no one ever taught me to cut a “chiffonade” of basil – I saw it on T.V.), and continue to learn better ways to do the things I’ve been doing for years. I may be too tired to cook every night, but when I see Bobbie Flay do a mac-&-cheese “throw down,” I may spend the next couple of months of weekends trying out a bunch of mac-&-cheese recipes to see which one I liked best.

To me, foodie T.V. is not only entertainment but education. I’m not the only one who thinks that – after all, PBS was arguably the first food network and they continue to produce some great shows. Today, several networks offer shows that literally cater to every taste. And don’t forget that episodes of Julia’s original television show, The French Chef, are now available on DVD. Learn a few tricks and, more importantly, learn to embrace the excitement of trying new things in the kitchen.

Bon Appétit!

Lori Berhon is a New York writer who once or twice a month plays hookey from working on her new novel to blog. Her occasional musings can be found @ Light Up The Cave. Her most recently completed novel, The Breast of Everything (which has nothing to do with food) is represented by Roger S. Williams of Publish or Perish Agency.

My Status: September was beyond busy. I hope October is less so. Fall is slowly coming to Southern California; cooler temperatures. Time to think about heartier food. More eating, writing, blogging coming soon.

Upcoming Posts: ‘gleaning,’ or the act of gathering public produce, or leftover farmer’s market produce, and giving it to the poor, needy and hungry. A history of the movement, and those that are involved with it. Reviews: The Berghoff Cafe Cookbook and Cooking Light, a review of the redesign of the Time Inc. magazine.

Sonoma County reminds me of France. I mean look at the above picture of Dry Creek Valley. It could easily have been taken in the south of France. The Languedoc maybe. Or Burgundy to the west even. It also has a lot of what makes France special. Great food, amazing wine, beautiful countryside. Sonoma County, the step-sister to the more well-liked, more popular Napa Valley, is my preference of the two. Slower, rougher, less populated but just as interesting in the areas of food and wine — and it also has the stunning Sonoma Coast. So take that Napa Valley!

On a recent vacation to the area I was reminded how much folks in the Bay Area like to eat. I’d always known this; from living in San Francisco during the early 80s through the early 90s, and from working in the food and restaurant business. I sold cheese at Oakville Grocery — the S.F. food emporium; I cooked at Jeremiah Tower’s Santa Fe Bar & Grill in Berkeley; I helped Chef Tower open Stars restaurant in San Francisco; I met all the chefs and foodies in town; I ate at all the great restaurants in the area: Stars, Zuni Cafe, Chez Panisse, Square One, Masa’s, Mustard’s in Napa, on and on. It was a great time to eat in San Francisco. The food scene during that period was phenomenal. Once I’d left it and moved on, I missed it terribly.

Thankfully I was able to experience it again. Robert and I ate very well during our week’s stay in Guerneville on the Russian River. I’d read about Zazu Restaurant & Farm, and Bovolo somewhere on the Internet and knew I wanted to try both. Both places are owned by married Chefs Duskie Estes and John Stewart; they also own the Black Pig Meat Co. where they make their own bacon and salumi from pigs that come from a sustainable hog operation, Pure Country Pork, in the Northwest. John is the salumist, studied with Mario Battali, and is responsible for the Black Pig meats, bacon and salumi that Zazu and Bovolo serve. Bovolo is a cafe inside a bookstore in Healdsburg, and Zazu is located on the edge of Santa Rosa and has a kitchen garden.

We ate at Zazu on a Wednesday night. The place was packed. The food was bliss. They describe themselves as a roadhouse restaurant serving playful Americana and Northern Italian inspired food. That is apt and I love the idea of an old-fashioned roadhouse. The place absolutely had that feel. Long and narrow; set just off the two-lane road; a dirt parking lot; and a counter with stools when you first walk in. We started with the Black Pig Salumi – ‘Butcher’s Plate’; four ‘flavors’ of salumi: backyard thyme, lomo, harissa, and felino served with pickled grapes. The salumi was rough and coarse and nicely fatty. The four preparations each distinctively different from the other without dwarfing the cured pork flavor of the meat. The pickled grapes? Really interesting — little grape explosions in the mouth. We shared a “Caesar” — romaine leaves with Vella dry jack and boccorones, or sardines. Robert had Seared Day Boat Scallops, Orzo Stuffed Squash Blossoms, Fennel Pollen, Backyard Tomatoes and Herbs. I had the Grilled Flat Iron Steak with Little Point Reyes Blue Cheese Ravioli, Ruby Chard. We ended with a house-made Chocolate Gelato with Scharfenberger Chocolate Sauce. I love cooking like this. Using local ingredients (as close as the kitchen garden); earthy and big in flavor and style. Somehow the food is exactly what should be served in the middle of wine country. European country cooking without being in Europe.

Bovolo was as good. The menu more simplified. The menu cover says ‘Pizza, Gelato, Salumi.’ They refer to the food as ‘Slow Food… Fast.’ Note the snail on their sign. I ate the World Famous Pork Cheek Sandwich with Roasted Peppers, Salsa Verde. The picture explains it better than I can. I’m still at a loss for words weeks later. The sandwich was served hot; the pork, the peppers and salsa verde all melded together into one crazily delicious taste sensation. These cooks know what they’re doing. I also had the White Bean Salad — spinach leaves, white beans, red onion in a green goddess-type dressing. Robert had the Farfalline Pasta Carbonara, Housemade Bacon, Farm Egg, Parmesan. It was the perfect wine country lunch. We’d spent an hour or so wandering around Healdsburg’s town square and finished up sitting in Bovolo’s garden eating this food. Napa Valley? Never heard of it.

The rest of the vacation wasn’t quite as food-filled as described above. We had our moments of swimming and kayaking on the Russian River; bicycling around Guerneville, and just relaxing. But there is one other food related experience I do want to share. Guerneville, a very small resort town, happens to have a used bookstore. We were at the coffee place next door one day and wandered in. I asked the owner if he had any cookbooks and boy did he. Several shelves full and more coming. A local man who had a huge cookbook collection had died recently; the store owner bought the whole collection at the estate sale. I snatched these books up: ‘Craig Claiborne’s Kitchen Primer,’ ‘Beard on Pasta,’ ‘Food In Good Season’ by Betty Fussell, ‘James Beard’s Treasury of Outdoor Cooking,’ and probably my favorite ‘La Cuisine de France – The Modern French Cookbook’ by Mapie, the Countess de Toulouse-Lautrec! It’s over 700 pages long. The copyright is 1964. She was only three years after Julia and ‘Mastering The Art of French Cooking’. It’s written in English; each recipe has the title in both English and French.And I’m still not sure if there’s any connection to the French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec but there must be. I haven’t had time to read through it yet. I’ll report back. I couldn’t leave without this book. The crowning moment in the used bookstore came when I noticed that the owner had a copy of ‘Mastering The Art of French Cooking – Volume One’ on a shelf behind the register. I asked about it. He said he hadn’t had time yet to inventory, price and shelve it; he pulled it out and put it down on the counter in front of me. I opened it: there on the title page were three signatures, Julia Child, Simone Beck and Paul Child. The book was in pristine condition. He was asking $2,000 for it. I left without it. So that’s it for my Sonoma County based food adventures for the moment. It’s a magical place and I love it there. I can’t wait to go again next year. Or sooner even.

In This Post: Zazu Restaurant & Farm, Bovolo, Black Pig Meat Co., Pure Country Pork

My Status: trying to get back on track after a wonderful vacation. More cooking, eating, dining out, writing and blogging. Thinking ahead to cooler fall weather and praying that the fires in Los Angeles end soon, and that there are not more of them.

Upcoming Posts: ‘gleaning,’ or the act of gathering public produce, or leftover farmer’s market produce, and giving it to the poor, needy and hungry. A history of the movement, and those that are involved with it. Reviews: ‘The Berghoff Cafe Cookbook’ and ‘Cooking Light,’ a review of the redesign of the Time Inc. magazine.

Fourth of July weekend is the ‘official-official’ start of summer for a lot of Americans. Memorial Day sneaks up and, if you live on the East Coast, always seems to be either still wet, cold or both. The fourth is far enough into the summer to actually be summer. So let the summer eating and celebrating begin. Now it’s really time to fire up the grill and to eat outdoors.

As promised in the last post, here are two recipes from our ‘Menu for a Friday Evening at Soustres’; these spare ribs are a perfect summer dish. And there’s nothing wrong with making a printanier of summer vegetables to go with them. The spare ribs, or coustillous, are part of the meat for the mixed grill we ate in France. They can be eaten alone, or you may do as we did and add chicken and sausage. The coustillous recipe is provided by Anne de Ravel of Saveur Languedoc and can also be found on her blog and website. The recipe includes harissa, a wonderful hot chili sauce of North African origins that I adore. It is the go-to hot sauce for the French, and quite different from most other hot sauces I have tasted. If you can locate some, you should give it a try. Most specialty food stores should carry it. If you are really adventurous, make a batch yourself! (Try a Google search for a recipe.)

Spare Ribs, or Coustillous

Provided by Anne de Ravel, Saveur Languedoc

Serves

6

Preparation Time

2 1/2 hours

Ingredients

1/2 cup white wine

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tbs Balsamic vinegar

4 scallions, green and white part, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tbs cilantro, minced

3 Tbs lemon balm, minced, or 1 stalk lemon grass, minced

1 Tbs fresh rosemary, chopped coarsely

1 – 2 tsp. harissa paste, or to taste (see note)

3 lbs. slab spare ribs, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Method

Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a mixing bowl. Whisk together. Place the spare ribs in a shallow glass baking dish. Pour the marinade over the meat, and turn to coat all sides evenly. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 2 hours.

When to ready to cook, preheat grill to medium hot, or check to be sure coals on a barbecue are medium hot (coals white in color). Remove the ribs from the refrigerator, uncover and shake each piece gently to allow excess liquid to drain off. Grill for 5 to 6 minutes on each side, depending on thickness of the ribs. They should be fully cooked yet still juicy. Remove from the grill, and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Note: harissa is a Moroccan chili paste made from hot peppers and spices. If unavailable, you may use your favorite hot sauce to taste.

Printanier of Artichokes, Fava Beans and Peas

A printanier is a braise of vegetables. The vegetables used can vary; the one we made in France included artichokes, fava beans and peas. This was due in part to the fact that these vegetables were in abundant supply at the open air market when we went shopping for our meal. Artichoke season is just ending so be careful when buying fresh artichokes. The recipe can easily be altered using other seasonally available vegetables.

Adapted from ‘Mastering The Art of French Cooking’

Serves

6 – 8

Preparation Time

2 to 2 1/2 hours

Ingredients

6 large artichokes

1 1/2 lbs. fresh peas

2 lbs. fava beans

1 cup onions, diced

6 Tbs of olive oil

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup wine vinegar

1/2 cup dry white wine or dry white vermouth

1 1/2 cups water

Fresh herbs; thyme, rosemary, or parsely, chopped fine

Chives, chopped

Salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Rinse the artichokes. You will only be using the hearts of the plant; using a sharp knife cut 3/4 of an inch off the leaves thus removing the sharp stickers from the tips. Peel away most of the outer leaves until you expose the inner white parts. Cut the stem off completely at the base then cut each artichoke in half. Remove the fuzzy parts at the center with a knife. Peel down any remaining leaves. The goal is to end of up with the hard inner part, the heart, only. Cut the halves into about three lengthwise pieces each (see photo for size needed). Put all the pieces into a bowl with lemon juice and water. The acid keeps the artichokes from turning brown. Set aside.

Remove the fava beans from their outer pod. Blanch the beans in boiling water for a few minutes. Rinse with cold water, once cool enough to handle remove the peas from their outer shell by slitting the skin with a knife, or your finger nail, and gently squeezing the bean out. Set aside.

Shell the peas and set aside.

Using a large casserole, cook the onions slowly for 5 minutes in the olive oil without letting them color. Stir in the garlic. Arrange the artichokes in the casserole and baste with the onions and garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover the casserole and cook slowly for 10 minutes not allowing the artichokes to brown.

Pour in the vinegar and wine. Raise heat and boil until liquid is reduced by half. Next pour in the water. Add the herbs. Bring to a simmer. Cover the casserole and place in the middle of a preheated oven. Casserole should simmer for 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours, or until liquid has almost entirely evaporated. To prevent over cooking, half way through the baking process add the fava beans and peas to the casserole and stir gently together. Before removing from the oven poke an artichoke with a knife; it should give easily. If it doesn’t let bake a little longer.

Before serving sprinkle the dish with the chopped chives.

Print Recipe

Print Recipe

Happy 4th and bon appétit!

My Status: home, blogging, cooking, missing Paris, eating, blogging, missing the Languedoc, dreaming of Barcelona… (yes, still!)

Upcoming Posts: Spain: yes, finally blog posts about Spain. The Wedge Salad: a recipe, the origins of the salad and of Iceberg lettuce. Review: ‘The Barcelona Cookbook’.