Walla Walla Food and Wine

Wow!

2011-10-25T07:38:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I have posted here! Kind of missed it! With the weather changing and having more time to think and write I will add as much content here as possible. I do have a foodie coma trip planned to NYC in about 2 weeks and you can expect a full report! We have scheduled; Friday night- wd-50, this is Wylie Dufresne's playground of molecular food. Along with Grant Achatz are credited with bringing the MG style to the forefront in the U.S. Saturday, I will be back at Le Bernardin, they have gone through a massive remodel, so this will be exciting. We have a prime table for Saturday night and expect to be blown away. Sunday morning will take us to the best Brunch in the United States, or for that matter the world when we hit the Brasserie Standard, Balthazar! Oh I can smell it now! Then that evening we will be at David Changs, Ma Peche for a special tasting menu prepared just for us! There will be pictures and accounts of all of this, plus the obligatory trips to the food trucks and Jewish Delis! Stay Tuned...........

Man vs Food and Man wins!

2010-12-28T20:40:00.000-08:00

Before the Christmas break set in, AK's was witness to a Burger Throwdown! All of this stemming from a bet at a very late night dinner after a dinner. The premise is that if one, eats a new burger patty record, then one gets to name the burger, until it is topped by the next patty. Currently we were on The Hogg, a Triple Bacon Cheeseburger. Well one thing leads to another and someone says that they can throwdown a Quad Bacon Cheeseburger and it escalates to the now Famous Andrew Trio, claiming" I'll take that challenge and see you one patty" And its on! So as the day breaks, we were left wondering if the record was to be broke, finally our hungover contestants finally made there way to AK's and it was on!

We pride ourselves in our burgers, a purely local burger, using Walla Walla Bread Company buns, Thundering Hooves meat and bacon, caramelized Walla Walla winter onions, green tomatoes pickled by yours truly and Tillamook Cheddar Cheese. Griffin, the quad man came first, his had cheese and onions on each 5.5oz patty, a bun in the middle of two sets of two patties, bacon on the top patty and two layers of tomatoes. This beast topped out at 41oz pure of pure burger bliss! Now if was a timed event, Griffin would had this one in the bag, gone in under 10 minutes, absolutely amazing!

Andrew then saunters up and we pass his now famous, Andrew Trio Five Patty Daddy, through the window to him. It was a sight to behold, 48.5oz of hot and juicy burger bliss. Andrew dressed it up with a little Tabasco and Ketchup and "headed to the wall". Now with Andrew, time wasn't the issue, the pure size was. Well, as time wore on the burger was getting smaller, finally the deed was done and The ATFPD, was history! Amazing, 2 guys and nearly 6 lbs of burgers consumed!

We now await the arrival of the person who thinks they are man or woman enough to up the ante! We will see!

This got us thinking, of a little food contest for the upcoming Spring/Summer. If Nathans can have a Hot Dog eating contest, why can't AK's have a burger eating contest? We are currently working out the details and lining up the sponsors, but we might have a new annual event happening here in Walla Walla!

Upcoming Dinners and stuff!

2010-11-10T12:11:00.000-08:00

We have 2 dinners coming up in the next few weeks, both have limited seats, so I you are interested you might want to act fast.

Saturday November 20th- This will be La Porte Brune's 8th Walla Walla Dinner. Kind of the Post-Harvest party, though I am sure some will still be working away! We started with 32 seats for this and have a few left. These dinners have taken on a life of their own, always fun and entertaining. As always, great friends, food and wine! How can you go wrong here. Check out www.laportebrune.com to sign up!

Saturday December 4th- I am really honored to have been asked to do this dinner again for good friend Geoff and the gang. We will be serving it up at Three Rivers Winery on Holiday Barrel Weekend, with Queensryche. This dinner will be a great night of music, wine and food. The guys will even be performing an acoustic set, in a very intimate setting, so very cool! Here is the link http://www.threeriverswinery.com/WinemakerDinner or call Three Rivers Winery 509-526-9463 to sign up. This is not you typical wine dinner!

So as many of you know, we now have our very own Food Truck! Andrae's Kitchen or AK's has it has become, is Walla Walla's first gourmet food truck! You can keep up with the location and menu changes a couple different ways, either on the website www.andraeskitchen.com or via the Face Book Page: Andrae's Kitchen, or Twitter @andraeskitchen

AK's is available for whatever type of event that you can think of. Give us a shout and let us put together your perfect menu, dinner or event! We have wheels and can come to you!

Enjoy our beautiful Fall weather and we will see you out and around the Valley!

The LPB & AK's Crew

Graphic's, Location, Burger and a Website

2010-11-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

Lots of cool stuff to report on here! We have added a graphic package to AK's, talk about sticking out, well that it does! Very cool graphics done by Lytle Signs in Boise. These are the guys that designed the original restaurant logo, so we just tweaked that one a little. I think that it is pretty cool. A whole lot better then a big white trailer.

Currently we are serving lunch Monday-Friday at 2nd and Pine, in Walla Walla. This is the Corliss Winery parking lot and is a beautiful spot for us to hang out at. The weekends we are moving around the valley to different wineries and setting up! Once the wineries start slowing down for the winter we will probably be changing up our routine, so stay tuned for all the details.

You can keep track of things from the brand spanking new website.
www.andraekitchen.com Don't laugh too hard as this is my handiwork. Web-master I am not, but it is functional and easy to use and I can keep it updated. Menu, contact info and other stuff is all on it! So check it out and let me know what you think and if I need anything else added!

The burger, well this is slowly taking on a life of its own. I think that it is evolving into one of if not the best burger I have ever eaten, anywhere, and I am not one to talk about my food publicly. I have been trying really hard to make this a 100% local burger, and I am very close. Maybe 99% right now. We are using Thundering Hooves for our grind and bacon and Walla Walla Bread Co. is providing the bun. The produce is all local, right now it is pickled green tomatoes.

AK's is Rolling!

2010-09-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a long time coming, but AK's(Andrae's Kitchen) is out and dishing up some mighty tasty grub! We have kind of set a schedule of; Monday-Thursday at the old Airport Terminal Building Parking Lot; Friday and Saturday, we will be traversing out and about the South-Side wineries and Sunday's you will be able to find us at Woodward Canyon out in Lowden.

It feels pretty good, to be back on the stove, I am having a blast getting all of my timing back! I guess once you do this it is always in your blood! Our menu is pretty straight-forward now, but look for some fun and whimsical specials to be rolling out, once we get the whole thing figured out.

We will be getting our blank canvas, all logo'd up soon, so make sure you keep an eye out for that!

We appreciate all the great words that have already been said and printed about us, and hope to keep you guys happy and full enough to keep them coming. Oh yea and thanks for all the votes for Food Networks, The Great Food Truck Race. It is very cool that our little big town rallied around that, unfortunately we are kind of limited on our population!

Make sure you stay up with all the news, menus and whereabouts of AK's by following our Twitter feed and Face Book page.
Stop by and say hello to us and and the crew and I guarantee you won't go away disappointed!!

AK's is almost ready!

2010-08-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

Ak's arrived on Saturday August 14th, and hopefully will be ready to rock some food out soon. We have our Health Dept. inspection on Tuesday the 17th and then a Washington L&I inspection in Tumwater. This has been a long trip and I feel that we are very close! We will be having a soft opening for friends and family then we will get this ball rollin. Look for a Grand Opening sometime in September! We will have a somewhat flexible schedule, and then will also be scheduling Vineyard dinners and be available for private functions! What we have is a 8.5X18 foot trailer, essentially 153 sq ft kitchen, with 50 cubic feet of refrigeration. By comparison, my total kitchen at Andrae's was 340 sq ft. We have a 6 burner range with a convection oven, a 24 inch Charbroiler, a 24 inch flat-top and a 40lb deep fryer. The menu will be all over the board, from burgers and fries to curries and croquettes, we will have something for everyone! Hopefully our website will be finished and we will be able to post updates and menus, as well as allow customer/fan interaction, by the time we open!

Menu for Seattle and stuff

2010-07-27T18:51:00.000-07:00

It has been a very busy month, with some very cool stuff on the horizon! We are now very close to the arrival of our mobile kitchen, that has been dubbed"AK's" ( Andrae's Kitchen). looking for it to be sitting in my driveway in about 10 days!! This is going to allow us more flexibility in providing great events in just about any location! Can you say vineyard dinners! We will be using this blog as well as a revamped website to keep everyone posted as to the whereabouts of the kitchen. Seems South and West of town might be seeing some food heading there way!

Below is the menu for Seattle Underground dinner this Friday!

Compressed Watermelon with Tomato and Juniper

2009 Elio Perrone, Bigaro, Moscato d’Asti

Potato and Wild Mushroom With Potato Chip and Wild Mushroom Gelee

2008 Hirsch, Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast

Kobe Beef Steak Tartare with Truffled Crostini and Quail Egg

2007 Sleight of Hand, Illusionist, Columbia Valley

Duck Confit with Scallops, Parsnip Puree, Hazelnuts

and Watercress

2007 Mark Ryan, Long Haul, Red Mountain

Roast Leg of Lamb with Chickpeas and Almond Mint Pesto

2005 Dunham, Lewis Vineyard Syrah, Columbia Valley

Flourless Chocolate Cake with White Pepper Ice Cream and Fresh Cherry-Cassis Sauce

2007 Sinclair Estate Vineyard, Vixen, Columbia Valley

Dinner at Jose Andres' Bazaar in Beverly Hills

2010-06-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we ventured to Los Angeles with great friends and had our sights set on Bazaar in the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills. This is Alice in Wonderland meets el Bulli, what a place! We had reservations for the private dining room called SAAM, and were in store for a 23 course extravaganza plus cocktails and wine. The meal lasted 4 1/2 hours and never once did we think that we had been there to long! This easily falls into one of the top meals I have ever had. I had the huge honor of working with David Bouley and Julian Serrano in a James Beard event in 2003 to honor the Culinary Stars of Spain, where I was honored not only to meet Jose Andres, but Ferran Adria and Juan-Marie Arzak. This is the first time that I have been able to get to one of his restaurants! Kind of a tune up for our Spain trip in 2011

The Golden Boy This was a mix of Cava, simple syrup, sherry and gold leaf and a squeeze of lime. Very unique started with a huge flavor wave over the palate. The sherry carried the flavor profile

Lotus Root Chip Loved this little chip, perfectly fried and seasoned.

Olive Oil Bonbon Consensus, one of the best flavors on the table, very high quality olive oil encased in a sugar membrane.

Bagel and Lox Steam Bun One of my favorites, the Salmon Roe and the steamed bun worked perfectly.

Tuna Handroll 2009 An old trick with still great results, the flavor of the tuna, nori puree and avocado worked great!

Black Olives Ferran Adria This is just a flavor burst of olive! As a side, I did this dish with bacon and pea puree for LPB#2

Jose's Combination Mix of jamon and caviar, in my opinion, probably towards the bottom of the list of dishes, seemed to need a little more salt, either from the caviar or the jamon.

Boneless Coconut Thai Chicken Wing Nice flavors and melt in your mouth chicken wings helped this dish rock.

Crispy Nigiri Very fresh Hamachi made this dish sing, the perfectly cooked and peeled baby turnip worked awesome. Gotta love peeling baby vegetables!

Chipirones en su Tinta This squid was probably the most tender, I have ever had. Amazing how in the hands of a trained chef a simple ingredient can be lifted. To many times I have had this at restaurants and had to chew till my mouth was sore. The Nori/rice chips were fantastic.

Linguini and Clams Perfectly cooked noodles and barely cooked clams. I love the fact that these clams had little to no heat on them, maybe 15 seconds, the flavors are so much more intense!

Magic Mojito So the simple syrup in the drink was in the form of cotton candy, then they poured the rum that had been infused with mint over it and it all melted together. Great drink!

Magic Mojito

Japanese Baby Peaches one of my top dishes. The flavors here were amazing, the hazelnut, peach, burrata and the brioche crouton. This worked and rocked.

Hot and Cold Foie Soup with Corn Another top dish, foie infused broth on the bottom with a cold corn emulsion on top, topped with some crispy corn flakes. Unbeleivable! Very similar to a dish I did when we opened the Andrae's in 2004, Foie Gras Creme Brulee with a Chantrelle Corn Goulash.

Norwegian Cigalas This dish had my favorite component to the meal, the Langoustine Broth..WOW! We did a style of this dish at Andrae's with lobster instead of Langoustine and added cauliflower to it. Both these dishes rocked. But that broth..WOW!!

Not Your Everyday Caprese Fun little dish, the mozzarella was done in the spherical form and just bursted with flavor.

Kurobuta Pork Belly My only other quibble with the dinner, we all thought that the pork belly was undercooked. Not the melt in your mouth texture you expect. As I have always said, if you are cooking it 8 hours what is 9. The rest of this dish rocked!!The pickled baby vegetables were so good.

Wagyu Beef Cheeks Braised meat at its peak! the meat was amazing, the cippolini onions had just tons of flavor! Just the right amount of citrus, helped cut the fat and made this dish near the top of the list.

Truffle Rice WOW, this was done with White Summer Truffles and just had tons of flavor! the rice perfectly al dente!

Philly Cheesesteak This dish, was out of control! The "bread" was hollow, but filled with a cheese espuma, then the thinly sliced Wagyu tenderloin on top, huge bursts of flavors when you bit into this! Consesus table favorite.

Dragons Breath Popcorn So here they cooked the popcorn in liquid nitrogen then you eat it and breath out your nose. All the "steam comes through your nostrils, more of a fun dish, then anything.

Dragons Breath Popcorn

Rose and Clementine The rose petal espuma and clementine sorbet worked well. The citrus was a nice complement to the rose flavor.

Lychee and Coffee loved this dessert. The coffee crumbs were delicious and the Lychee sorbet was very fresh and flavorable. Just a great pairing of the two flavors!

Sexy Little Sweets Nice little selection of chocolates for us at the end of the meal.

Nice NPR Story on the Underground Movement!

2010-06-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

This was done at our most recent La Porte Brune Underground in Walla Walla.
http://www.nwfoodnews.com/2010/06/07/underground-markets-restaurants-speakeasies-for-the-foodie-set/

Gratin Dauphinois for the Masses

2010-05-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

So we will attempt to explain this recipe with out the aid of pictures. We have had numerous requests for this and not sure when we will be making it again. This dish is a labor of love as it is a little time consuming and will dirty many different pots and pans in your kitchen. But oh are the results worth the effort! So here we go.

1. In separate bowls, place your Gorgonzola, salt, small cubed butter, ground white pepper.
2. Have at least a quart of cream on hand.
3. Wash and peel your russet potatoes, then place in a bowl of water.
4. Take a casserole dish and liberally butter it, bottom and sides and set aside.
5. You are now ready to start building your layers, the key here is to slice only the amount of potatoes that you need for each
layer. When sliced do not put them in any water, as you need all the starch left in them.
6. Using a Japanese Mandolin, slice the potatoes very thin and layer them in the bottom of your casserole dish, shingling
them as you go.
7. Sprinkle the layer of potatoes with some salt and pepper.
8. Randomly place cubes of butter over the layer.
9. Sprinkle the Gorgonzola evenly over the layer, more or less depending on how strong you want the flavor.
10. Pour a little cream over the layer.
11. Now you are ready to add another layer of potatoes, like the first. Once you have them covering, firmly press down.
12. Repeat all the above steps. You will add a total of 6 layers. Finish the top off as if you were adding another layer, so all the
cheese, butter, cream, etc.
13. Cover tightly with foil and place in a 320 degree oven for approximately 2 1/2 hours. Checking occasionally by poking a
knife through the layers to see if you have resistance.
14. Once you feel that they are done uncover the pan and let finish cooking until the top is golden brown.
15. Remove and let cool, it is best to let them sit over night in the fridge.
16. Very carefully cut them into serving pieces and remove with a spatula, reheat in the oven till warm.
17. ENJOY!!

Braised Short Ribs, not your mothers pot roast!

2010-05-10T16:29:00.000-07:00

So for about the last nearly 10 years I have been hounded for my Braised Short Rib recipe. Short Ribs defined by the Food Lovers Companion are "rectangles of beef about 2 inches by 3 inches, usually taken from the chuck cut. Short ribs consist of layers of fat and meat and contain pieces of the rib bone. They're very tough and require long, slow, moist-heat cooking". I have done these many different ways with many different braising liquids, but I always come back to the one that I feel is the best in flavor. That would be Red Wine braised, be it Cab, Merlot, Syrah or Pinot, the outcome is nearly the same, some subtle flavor differences, but not enough for the avid home cook to sweat over. We are going to do this one in pictures.

Start with good quality meat, these are Thundering Hooves Short ribs.

Next gather your vegetables: Onions-peeled and rough chop, Carrots-peeled and rough chop, celery-rough chop, garlic-peeled and smashed, shallots-peeled and rough chop, rosemary, parsley stems and thyme

Next you will want to season the ribs with salt and pepper and sear off the ribs in canola oil, until you get a little crust/golden brown color on each side. When they are done place in a large roasting pan and set aside. Then add all of your vegetables, minus the herbs, to a large sauce pan with a bit of canola oil and start to slowly caramelize them.

Next you will need to add some tomato paste and flour, first add the paste to the caramelized veg and stir in well, then sprinkle the flour over and stir until you can not see any white.

Then you are going to want to add your liquids, add them in slowly and scrape the bottom of the pan. Once all of your wine is in, add your herbs and bring to a boil, reduce slightly and add your stock, bring again to a boil and pour over the ribs that are in a roasting pan. Lightly season with salt and pepper, as you will finish seasoning after the sauce is done. You may add a couple bay leaf's at this point as well. Here I will give you some amounts, you will need 3-4 bottles of wine and about a gal of veal stock.

At this point you want to cover them with parchment by laying it directly on the liquid, then cover the pan with foil. Place the roasting pan in a 320 degree oven and cook for at least 4 hours or until the meat falls apart when you lift it out of the liquid. Once that point is reached, remove the pan and VERY CAREFULLY remove the ribs from the liquid. You will want to pull the bones out at this point, as they will be much easier to remove now then later. It is best to let these cool over night in the fridge.

Next you need to very carefully strain the sauce through a fine mesh strainer, pushing all of the solids lightly. This needs to be chilled down then held over night so a fat cap forms at the top.

After the cap is set, you can remove it easily. Then you need to reduce the sauce by at least 1/2. Then season it with salt and pepper. I usually clean up the ribs by squaring them up and saving the scraps to grind into burgers etc. At this point you can return the meat to reheat in the sauce then serve.

Enjoy

A Insania Night through Anothers Eyes!

2010-05-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

So Saturday night I had the honor of cooking for Geoff Tate and 65 of his most rabid fans in the World! I don't think I could of said it any better then my buddy Steve!

http://terroirists.net/2010/05/09/a-night-of-insania-and-bacon/

New La Porte Brune logo!!!

2010-04-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Daymon Bruck for this killer logo!!

Menu and Wine pairings for La Porte Brune Dinner #3

2010-04-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

Following is the menu with some great wine pairings! We are really excited for this dinner and venue! There are a few seats left for the dinner. Go to La Porte Brune to register and sign up for the mailing list!

Cauliflower Panna Cotta with Lobster Consommé and House Smoked Black Cod
2008 Birgit Eichinger, Gruner Veltliner, Kamptal

Olive Oil Poached Halibut with White Gazpacho and Pickled Fiddlehead Ferns
2007 Domaine de la Chapelle, Pouilly-Fuisse, Vieilles Vignes

Wild Morel Risotto with Fava Beans and Coppa
2006 Belle Pente, Belle Pente Vineyard

Braised Lamb Shank Ragout with Hand Cut Tagliatelle and Mint Pesto
2006 Walla Faces, “The Jane”, Syrah, Walla Walla Valley

Cannoli Napoleon with House Made Ricotta Cream and Cinnamon-Chocolate Sauce
2009 Elio Perrone, Bigaro, Moscato d’Asti

Random Thoughts

2010-03-23T21:24:00.000-07:00

It's been way to long since I have put anything up!!! I am in a transition phase in my life and will be able to dedicate and focus more on my passion for food here soon! Some random thoughts, La Porte Brune #2 was awesome, the venue(Corliss) and the wine, food and the people all came together to make one special night! You can check out photo's from the night at the La Porte Brune Facebook page. I have been in contact with a couple of Chefs in Seattle about some joint La Porte Brune Dinners in Seattle, Grabriel Claycamp and Jason Wilson are on board and we will post details soon on those! We do have our first date set for Seattle, June 5th. That should be a blast! We are getting close to La Porte Brune #3 in Walla Walla, what a beautiful spot we have for this dinner, if mother nature cooperates with us we should have a beautiful sunset to take in! The menu for that dinner is posted on the La Porte Brune website. We have the locations and date's set for LPB#4(May 22nd) and LPB#5(June 26th) in Walla Walla. I will post photo's of the prep process and recipes for the upcoming LPB#3 dinner, so stay tuned!

La Porte Brune Dinner #3

2010-03-04T22:37:00.000-08:00

We have confirmed our location for our next dinner on April 10th. We are currently taking reservations on La Porte Brune. Plenty of posts to be forth-coming as I have made some changes in my life!!! All for the good! Lots of cool stuff getting made next week!

Food in the Bahamas

2010-02-23T20:55:00.000-08:00

Well after being in the Bahamas for 8 days, I kind of like the diet of Spiny Lobster, Conch, Stone Crab and Grouper, throw in a little chicken and the best tasting arugula i have ever had! We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and ate local or cooked every day. After a couple days we figured out the fishing schedule and the boat ramp in Tarpen Bay, conch and small fish around noon and Spiny lobster and bigger fish late afternoon. The spiny lobster were amazing, we always seemed to miss the conch. I did go snorkeling nearly every day, looking for that elusive conch, we found them several days but the shell was not mature, yea i know, you are saying how can you tell, well you have to look for a thin flair on the last ring then they are old enough to harvest. We ate many styles of Conch fritters, Lobster Salad, Grouper Fingers, Conch Chowder, Conch Ceviche, Lobster Paella. We had some great burgers from an Ex-Pat in Gregory Town. So check out the pics!

Menu and Wine Pairings For La Porte Brune Underground Dinner #2

2010-02-23T18:03:00.000-08:00

Well my time in the Bahamas allowed me time to get the menu and wine pairings finalized, I apologize for no posts as we had pretty shoddy internet service and my old computer was not up to the game! So without further adieu here is the menu:

Amuse Bouche
Spherical Pea Ravioli with Bacon Powder
2006 Saint Hillaire, Brut, Blanc de Blancs

1st Course
Shellfish Ceviche with Tomato Water Sorbet
2008 Pascal Jolivet Sancerre

2nd Course
Sous Vide Hudson Valley Foie Gras Terrine with Blue Fin Tuna Tartar and Brioche Crouton
2006 Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt,
Piesporter Goldtropfchen, Kabinett

3rd Course
Alaskan Sablefish with Truffled Potato Foam and Bacon Brandy Sauce
2004 Talisman, Sonoma Mountain, Red Dog Vineyard, Pinot Noir

4th Course
Bacon and Eggs
2005 Corliss, Columbia Valley, Syrah

5th Course
Foie Gras Profiteroles with Salted Caramel Sauce and Shaved Bittersweet Chocolate
2004 Tommaso Bussola Ripasso, “Ca del Laito”

We are once again during a tour of the world of food and wine, this should be fun!!!!

Look for posts from the BAHAMAS!!

2010-02-10T14:53:00.000-08:00

Heading to the Bahamas for a some R&R, look for some posts on food and cocktails from the island of Eluethra. Probably not going to find much wine. I will be cooking up a special Valentines dinner for our group Sunday! That picture is actually the island that we are staying on, the dark blue is the Atlantic Ocean and the light blue is the Caribbean! I see a lot of Conch and Spiny Lobster in my future!

Spherical Pea Ravioli

2010-02-02T19:58:00.000-08:00

I know this is nothing new, but is sure is fun to play around with! When you come home from a long day at work, who doesn't want to play chemistry in your kitchen! I dabbled in a little molecular gastronomy stuff at the restaurant and it is always a cool thing to pull out at a dinner party or something. The Spherification process is actually pretty easy, just stay true to the measurements. This recipe is straight out of the El Bulli cookbook, there are only 2 ingredients that you will have to hunt for, Sodium Alginate and Calcium Chloride, both food grade additives. Sodium Alginate is a natural product extracted from brown algae that grow in cold water regions of Ireland, Scotland, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc. Calcium Chloride is a calcium salt traditionally used in the food industry, for example in cheese making.

For the pea juice:
300 g extra fine frozen peas
375 g water

1. Put the frozen peas in the blender.
2. Bring the water to the boil and add the peas.
3. Shred the peas with the water to obtain a juice.
4. Strain in a chinois.
5. Chill in a ice bath

For the spherical pea ravioli base:
500 g pea juice (preparation above)
2.4 g Sodium Alginate

1. Mix sodium alginate with 1/3 of the pea juice in a blender to obtain an even mixture with no lumps.
2. Add the rest of the pea juice and mix well.
3. Strain and chill in ice bath or refrigerator.

For the Calcium Chloride bath:

6.5 g Calcium Chloride
1000 g water

1. Dissolve Calcic in the water with a blender.
2. Put the mix in a container to obtain a height of about 5 cm.

For the spherical pea ravioli:

1. Fill a hemispherical spoon with the spherical pea ravioli base and pour the contents of the spoon into the Calcium Chloride bath.
2. Leave the pea juice ravioli to cook in the bath for 2 min.
3. When the 2 min are up take out the ravioli with a slotted spoon and submerge them in cold water to clean them.
4. Strain the spherical pea ravioli, trying not to break them.

There you go, it will take a little practice in getting the "pour" into the bath but once you get it down you can amaze your friends with your mad skills. This recipe works for most low acid vegetables and fruits.

Tickets for La Porte Brune #2 are available!!

2010-01-30T07:12:00.000-08:00

Ahhh, La Porte Brune #1 is in the books and it felt GOOD!!!

We have our date for our 2nd dinner and we have our location secured and all I got to say is WOW! I have wanted to do a dinner here since I moved here! So on Saturday March 13th in Walla Walla, we will again fling open the doors, to you the Culinary Under-grounders!

For those that did not attend the inaugural dinner, you now have a chance to hop on board this culinary train and become part of the “Underground”! Judging from the reaction of at the first dinner, these dinners will fill up very quickly!
We are only taking the first 40 that sign up! Our space for dinner #1 limited our number; we do not have that problem for this dinner! The cost of the dinner includes a champagne greeting, at least 5 courses of food and wine and your gratuity. All you need to do is show up and have a great evening! This dinner will be $95 per person

So those that have done this before bear with me as I explain how to sign up:
1. Go to www.laportebrune.com
2. Go to the menu page
3. Use the Paypal button on the side of the page to purchase your “door passes”
4. Add your name, party size and where you live to the menu page in the comment box.

The menu and wine pairings should be up in the next week or so. I feel like maybe some poaching, braising and sous vide and some great wine in your future!

Then as you some of you know, a few days prior to the dinner you will receive an email with the address. For those making travel plans, it is in Walla Walla. We look forward to again seeing everyone soon!

La Porte Brune Dinner #1 Wrap Up

2010-01-24T15:38:00.000-08:00

Well the first dinner is in the books, what a great event. I don't have much to say other then I think that the food and wine pairings worked great, all the dishes came out as planned and the wines were all drinking great. Sounds like the '08 Domaine Servin 1er Cru Chablis and the Yuzu Cured Salmon and the '07 Palacious Petalos with the Hoisin Pork Belly claimed the best pairing of the night award, though the other dishes/wines seemed to have fans! The setting looked beautiful and the sold out crowd loved the intimacy. Enough rambling here is the menu and then a bunch of photo's.

Celeriac Veloute with House Cured Duck Prosciutto and Parmesan Foam
Pierre Morlet, Brut NV

Yuzu Cured Wild Pacific Coho Salmon with Micro Greens, Lemon Confit and Fried Capers
2008 Domaine Servin, Chablis 1er Cru, Montee De Tonnerre

24-hour Thundering Hooves Pork Belly Steamed Buns with Pickled Cucumber, Shallots and a Hoisin Glaze
2007 Palacios, Bierzo, Petalos

Moulard Duck Leg Confit with Chestnut Spaetzle and “Bourguignon” Sauce
2007 Domaine Remi Jobard, Bourgogne Passetoutgrain

Roasted Pineapple Carpaccio with Salted Caramel Ice Cream
2006 Domaine Gardies, Muscat de Rivesaltes, Flor

Looking forward to March 13th, La Porte Brune's 2nd Underground Dinner!

Puff Pastry de-mystified!

2010-01-18T21:58:00.000-08:00

I think that tackling making puff pastry at home probably is one of the more daunting doughs that exists for most people. This dough is actually quite easy and outside of requiring a time commitment, can be made quite easily. When I needed some Zen time at the restaurant, this is usually were I turned. Following are the ingredients that you will need:

500 grams AP Flour
2 tsp Salt
275ml Cold Water
125 grams Butter, melted
350 grams Buerrage ( butter block)

First step is weigh out all of your ingredients and have ready to roll. You can combine the flour and salt.

Next lay out a piece of plastic wrap and place your Buerrage butter on top, and cover with another piece of wrap. It is best to use as large of pieces of butter as possible, ie; cut down a 1 lb block to get your 350 grams as this step will work better. Next take a rolling pin and beat the butter down into a rectangle about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick by about 4-5 inches wide by 6-7 inches long. Yo will need to flip it over several times to keep it even, beating on the sides to keep it square. Place this into the refrigerator to firm up.
Next you need to mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, make a bowl with your flour/salt and add the water, using a fork, mix in the sides a little at a time until you have mixed in all 275 ml's of the water, next add the melted butter and stir this in as well. At this point you will have a slightly wet dough, knead for a few minutes until it comes together, then form into a rectangle about the same size as the butter. Put this in the refrigerator and let this firm up as well. Usually at least 1 hour is required but overnight is fine too.

After your dough is firm, remove and place on a lightly floured work space. Roll out the corners, as shown, leaving a hump of dough in the middle. The flaps should be big enough to cover the buerrage.

Add your buerrage on top of the hump and press down slightly. Now you are ready to start the layering process. Fold over the flaps, with doing the ones that are across from each other, so top and bottom and left and right. Make sure you brush the flour off each time you fold up a flap.

Now you are going to turn the dough so that the last flap you folded over, would open like a book, if you opened it. At this point, use your rolling pin to square up the dough.
Using your rolling pin, press down up and down the dough to spread the dough and butter out. Then begin rolling out your dough, adding flour to the work surface if needed, and keeping the sides very square. Roll the dough out until it is at least the length of your pin or longer.

Next starting at either the top or bottom, fold the dough in so that it would be 3 equal pieces. Always brushing off the flour.

Re-orient your dough, so that it opens like a book and repeat the roll out process. Re-fold the dough again. Then wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight. The butter at this point has become very soft and needs to firm up, or else it will start melting too much into the dough. When firm, remove and orient the dough, so it opens like a book and repeat the process 2 more times. At this point you are done and have successfully made your dough! Cut off what you need and freeze the rest. This dough freezes quite well.

Wines from the Weekend

2010-01-18T21:00:00.000-08:00

So this weekend I was fortunate enough to be able to try some pretty cool wines at a couple different places. First at the Ranier Club in Seattle, I had Andrew Will 2000 Sorella out of a 18 liter. Pretty cool, presentation, I have a photo of the bottle, but there is some incriminating evidence attached to the photo, so you will just have to take my word! This wine still had ton's of fruit and great color, the tannin and acid worked together perfectly.

Secondly, I did a dinner at a private residence in Seattle and we had quite a line up.
1999 Dom
2007 Dusted Valley Old Vine Chardonnay
2002 Matthews Red Wine
2004 Napa Valley Reserve (Harlan Private Label)
1999 Harlan 1.5 liter
1987 Groth 1.5 liter
2006 Dusted Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
2006 Colgin Syrah
1990 Matthews Port

Unbelievably not a clunker in the bunch, they all were amazing! I probably won't ever get to try some of these wines again so am thankful that I had the oppurtunity!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

2010-01-14T20:27:00.000-08:00

There has been a recent resurgence in Chicken Cutlet dishes. It has got me thinking about living and going to high school in Heidelberg, Germany, where Chicken Cordon Bleu was one of my fav dishes and was something I now make often when I am hungry and in the mood for some comfort food! So nothing fancy just good simple food for this post! This is a really easy recipe and can be made quite quickly.
You want to start with fresh chicken breasts and slice them in half, so that you have to equal pieces.

The lay out some plastic wrap and place the breasts on it, cover with another layer of wrap and pound until it is thin, not mush.

Season each piece and brush each piece with Dijon Mustard

At this point you can add your favorite meat and cheese, we had some Beechers Jack and some sliced Black Forest Ham, layer on top of one of the breasts then place the other piece, dijon side down, on top.

Next set up the holy trinity of frying, flour, eggs and bread crumbs. Season the flour and bread crumbs with salt and pepper, and whisk the eggs. Carefully coat the chicken with the flour, shaking off the extra, then coat with the egg, making sure that the piece is wet with the egg, next coat in the bread crumbs, then place on a sheet pan to set up for a minute .

In a large Saute pan, add about 1/4 canola oil, and heat on med high, when hot carefully add the chicken and cook on each side about 4-6 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove and place on paper towels, season with salt and serve and eat!

Menu and Wine Pairings for La Porte Brune Dinner #1

2010-01-12T20:44:00.000-08:00

Here is the menu with the wine pairings( in italics) for the 1st La Porte Brune Underground Dinner on January 23rd. We will have photo's of the event and recipes for some of the various dishes. This dinner has sold out, but we will be posting information very soon on La Porte Brune's 2nd Underground Dinner! La Porte Brune

Celeriac Veloute with House Cured Magret Duck Prosciutto and Parmesan Foam

Pierre Morlet, Brut NV

Yuzu Cured Wild Pacific Salmon with Baby Greens, Lemon Confit and Fried Capers

2008 Domaine Servin, Chablis 1er Cru, Montee De Tonnerre

24-hour Pork Belly Steamed Buns with Pickled Cucumber, Shallots and a Hoisin Glaze

2007 Palacios, Bierzo, Petalos

Moulard Duck Leg Confit with Chestnut Spaetzle and “Bourguignon” Sauce

2007 Domaine Remi Jobard, Bourgogne Passetoutgrain

Roasted Pineapple Mille Feuille with Salted Caramel Ice Cream

2006 Domaine Gardies, Muscat de Rivesaltes, Flor

The date is set for La Porte Brune's 2nd "Underground" Dinner

2010-01-12T20:29:00.000-08:00

The date has been set for La Porte Brune's 2nd Underground Dinner. It will be happening on Saturday March 13th at a yet to be determined location in Walla Walla. Check out the website for all the particulars!La Porte Brune

Racking the Dusted Valley Kn'a Rose!

2010-01-09T12:59:00.000-08:00

Friday, we racked the Kn'a Rose off its remaining lees, in anticipation of getting it ready for bottling here soon! This wine is really developing into a classic style Rose. This wine is quite dry, with a refreshing palate. Great acid and light tannins carry the watermelon and light citrus and floral notes. This is a blend of Mourvedre, Cuniose, Syrah and a touch of Viognier for aromatics. A very Southern Rhone inspired blend! Bottling is scheduled for the 1st of March and then looking at an early Spring release, just in time for when the patio and bbq season start to heat up. This wine will pair great with Grilled Hermiston Watermelon Skewers with Montaillet Chevre and a Reduced Balsamic Glaze.

La Porte Brune's 1st Underground Dinner SOLD OUT!!

2010-01-08T07:04:00.000-08:00

The first dinner from the folks at La Porte Brune, has SOLD OUT. This is the first of many planned underground dinners that will rove from venue to venue, bringing people, food and wine together in a communal style dining experience. Look for upcoming dates for the rest of the year to be posted very soon. LPB is actively pursuing sites for the dinners! Judging from the response for the first dinner, tickets will be at a premium. The wine has been secured for the first dinner and will be posted with the menu soon. Look for the menu with recipes and photo's from the first dinner to be posted here! La Porte Brune

The Infamous Lobster Leo's (formerly known as Lobster Corn Dogs)

2010-01-03T10:54:00.000-08:00

So I would thought I would post my recipe for what we call Lobster Leo's, named after my dog Leo. We served these at the restaurant and usually sold out of them every night. They have been resurrected here in Walla Walla on several occasions, most recently on New Years Eve/Kent's Birthday! You can add your own variations to the mixture. Enjoy

LOBSTER /SCALLOP MIXTURE
2 tbls Extra Virgin Olive oil
1/2 cup Fennel, finely chopped
1 Shallot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 lb fresh Scallops( not frozen)
4 tbls Heavy Cream
1/4 lb Lobster Meat, claws and knuckles, chopped and chilled
1/4 Bunch Tarragon, leaves only, finely chopped
1/2 Lemon Zested
Salt
White Pepper

BATTER
1 cup+2tbls Cornmeal
1 1/2 cup AP Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
1 1/2 tbls Baking Powder
Pinch of salt
Pinch of Cayenne pepper
1 cup Milk
1 cup Buttermilk
1 egg
1 egg yolk

Saute fennel, shallot and garlic in the EVO until translucent, NO COLOR!!!!!!!!!! Set aside to cool. Puree the scallops in a Robo-Coupe or Cuisinart, adding enough cream to make a smooth puree. In a bowl combine scallop puree, fennel mix, lobster, tarragon, lemon zest and season with salt and pepper. Put the mixture in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch tip. Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap and pipe about 8-9 inch logs onto the sheet, leaving about 3 inches at each end. Roll up the plastic very tightly around the mousse and tie the ends. Repeat until you have used all the mixture. Poach in simmering water for about 15 minutes, until firm to the touch, shock in an ice bath immediately. Remove Plastic and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Insert a wooden coffee stick into one end. Keep cool.

In a large bowl mix cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, cayenne pepper and salt. In a separate bowl mix milks, egg and egg yolk. Whisk the wet into the dry mixture. Add additional milk if needed. Holding the sticks, dip into the batter and allow the excess batter to drip off. Deep fry in peanut oil until golden brown, remove, drain and season with salt.

La Porte Brune's 1st Underground Dinner SOLD OUT!!

2010-01-03T10:37:00.000-08:00

Well folks, Saturday 1/23/10 is now full! We are now taking reservations for Sunday 1/24/10. We will offer the same menu and wine pairings for the Sunday seating. Though the location may change. We are also getting tentative dates set for the rest of 2010 and will have those posted very quickly so that you can make plans for the rest of the year. Check out La Porte Brune

Cassoulet, the finish

2010-01-01T12:33:00.000-08:00

So last night for Kent's Birthday and our New Years Eve Celebration we put all of the remainder of ingredients into the cassoulet and finished it off in the oven. So what exactly did I do.

Starting on Wednesday evening, I soaked my white beans over night, then drained them in the morning. I set them aside until the afternoon, when I covered them in water and added 3 ham hocks from the Swinery and simmered for a couple hours. I then strained off the cooking liquid and set it aside for finishing the dish. Thursday morning I seared off the duck legs and then confited them for about 6 hours in a 275 degree oven. Removed them and set them aside. I had already braised a pork belly on Sunday and had that set aside for this dish as well. We had picked up some Parsley/Garlic sausage from the Swinery as well. So at this point we are ready to combine everything and get it all reheated. In a large sautoir I added the beans, and the cooking liquids( one from the lamb shoulder and the bean liquid). Then in went the ham hocks, the shredded lamb shoulder, the cubed pork belly, the confited duck legs and the sausage. I seasoned everything up with salt and pepper at this point. I brought this to a simmer on top of the stove. I then took my bread crumbs and tossed them in a little melted duck fat and covered the top of the dish and placed in a 325 degree oven for about 1 and 1/2 hours or until the cassoulet was bubbling through the top. We then all sat down to a beautiful table for a great pot of cassoulet! Washed it all down with a Magnum of 1990 Ch. Beaucastel amongst other great wines.

Cassoulet, the beginning

2009-12-29T22:20:00.000-08:00

So I have started the process for putting together a cassoulet that we will be having on Thursday for a duel Birthday/New Years Eve Celebration with some great friends. I can't think of a better way to celebrate then to share the ultimate meat lovers dish, and wash it down with some great wines! Yesterday I starting the confit process with the duck legs, packing them in shallots, garlic, rosemary, thyme and salt/pepper, they will be seared then cooked in duck fat on Thursday morning then placed in the cassoulet to finish in he afternoon. I have the white beans soaking overnight and will slow cook them tomorrow with a couple of smoked ham hocks from The Swinery. I braised a bone-in lamb shoulder today. Browned it in a pan with some pork fat, then sauteed some onions and garlic, added a little tomato paste and flour, then tossed in some thyme, rosemary and bay leaf. Then instead of using a beef stock, I used the braising liquid from the pork belly I did on Sunday and a bottle of white wine to finish it off. Placed the shoulder back in and covered the pan with foil and braised it at 320 degrees for about 4-5 hours, until the meat fell off the bone. Stay tuned for the conclusion and photo's!

La Porte Brune Menu is up

2009-12-28T10:36:00.000-08:00

Check it out here: La Porte Brune

The After Christmas Friends, Wine and Food Feast

2009-12-28T09:37:00.000-08:00

So once again as things go here in the Walla Walla Valley, we gather with close friends and enjoy some great wine, food and conversation. So we put together a wine friendly menu and paired up with some wines out of our cellars that we would want to share with friends.
We started the night with a Bluefin Tuna Poke and Lettuce wrappers and paired it up with some great Champagne, a 2005 Schramsberg Brut Rose, 1999 Schramsberg and a 2002 Pierre Morlet. All 3 drinking great and paired with the poke, that had just a hint of spice. Nice way to start!

We then went Burgundian with some Escargot with Bacon, garlic, parsley, white wine and butter. We paired it up with a 2002 Domaine de la Vougeraie, le Clos Blanc du Vougeot. This by consensus was probably the best food and wine pairing of the night. We also had a Punkt, Sparkling Gruner, which I never have heard of, let alone tried. What a fun and delightful little find! Thanks Corey!

We then moved on to the dinner portion and started with a Porcini Mushroom Veloute, five ingredients, no muddling the earthy flavor of the mushroom here! We paired this with a 1967 Barolo and a 2000 Domaine de Courcel Pommard Les Rugiens, both drinking great, though the Barolo might of been a little tired but still had fresh color and lots of fruit

Next we went back to the meat salad, this time with Braised Pork Belly, Arugula and a Pomegranate Vinaigrette. We paired this up with a couple of wines from Cornas, a 2006 Domaine Clape and a Allemand and I can't remember the vintage, the later was definitely drinking better.

Then we moved on to the dish that was feared to be the artery clogger of the night but the that elicited the most praise for the flavor. Duck Fat Poached Swinery Tenderloin with Bacon Blue Cheese Macaroni and Pickled Mustard Seeds. I gotta say, I liked this dish! Texture, flavors everything worked in great balance. We went Cabernet Style with the dish and had a 2001 Ch. Smith Haut Lafitte from Pessac-Leognan and a 2004 Robert Foley Claret, both drinking great and paired beautifully with the flavors.

Closed out the evening with a Chocolate-Huckleberry Souffle and put another wine and food extravaganza in the books!!

The Christmas Feast

2009-12-26T08:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas dinner is always a time to gather with friends and celebrate, this time was no exception! We have been menu planning and anticipating the week around Christmas and New Years, and it's finally here. Even though you spend the whole day prepping and cooking it all seems worth it, when the moment finally arrives and the partaking begins. We started off the evening with a couple whites, 2005 Shafer Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay and a 2003 Rochioli Rachels Vineyard Chardonnay

Then it was time to get busy with the eating! So we started with American Spoonbill Caviar(Paddlefish) with Buckwheat Blini, Egg and Red Onion. Washed down with some great Champagnes including a 2000 Dom and a (99?)Perrier-Jouet Cuvee Fleur de Champagne. What can you say about Champagne and Caviar, one of life's little pleasures, obviously enjoyed by all!

Next we move on to the "salad" course. With our group being a bunch of red wine drinkers, salad gets lost in the shuffle, so I have figured out how to move it to the forefront.... put meat in it! We did a Quail Confit Salad with Applewood Smoked Bacon, Brioche Croutons and a warm Sherry Vinaigrette over Curly Endive. We paired this with a 2000 and 2001 Montiano and a 2002 Barnett Spring Mountain District Merlot, what a pairing this dish was with the merlots, it was harmony in the mouth, the Italians really showed that they were meant to be paired with food.

So now we moved on to the true meat course, we wanted to drink a bunch of older California Cult Cabs, so we needed a dish that would stand up to those. Well, Steak au Poivre with Foie Gras Sauce and Roasted Fingerlings was just what the doctor ordered. The Swinery Ribeye's were amazing, great flavor and the pepper just brought out all the great "beef" qualities, the Hudson Valley Foie Gras sauce, paired great with the meat and wine, how can shallots, cream, chicken stock and Foie not work, delicious! So for the wine line-up; 2003 Insignia, 1995 Araujo Eisele Vineyard, 1995 Dalla Valle, 1999 Blankiet Estate Paradise Hills Vineyard( a Helen Turley Wine) and a 1996 Opus One. Not a slouch in the bunch, each one brought something different to the mouth in the pairing. This was an unbelievable course and pairing.

Dessert brought time for reflection on the meal and pairings, and a little Pecan Pie with Chocolate Ganache and a Salted Caramel Ice Cream. What a great dinner to share with friends. Memorable for sure!

Christmas Eve Dinner

2009-12-26T08:03:00.000-08:00

And so it begins, the 4 nights of friends, food and wine! Christmas Eve was a great informal gathering, the food was fantastic, Renee's Crab Cakes with Remoulade Sauce, King Crab Legs, the obligatory Swinery Meat Sampler, and a little Paella, dessert was a Praline Cake, from the home of pecans, Georgia. As usual lots of wine opened, including a vertical of Merryvale Profile, 99-02, Cayuse Impulsivo and Camaspelo, 02 Hewitson Old Garden Mouvedre(corked) and some other miscellaneous reds, whites and bubbles, more of a tune up for the nights to come.

Bloody Mary Nirvana

2009-12-24T23:34:00.000-08:00

So I have had and made some good Bloody Mary's in my time, but I got to let you know about the best I have ever had. Last weekend we went over to our friends Kent and Renee's house, for a little brunch. Kent who has already demonstrated his proficiency in Bloody Mary's decided to up the ante with something near and dear to my hart.... BACON VODKA! So I could give you the recipe, problem is, I don't know it. Its like a magician telling you how he does a trick. Needless to say the Bacon Vodka, definitely ups the ante considerably. Add in a little of my apple wood smoked bacon for the "bacon salt" on the rim and for garnish and you have the nirvana of Bloody Mary's!!

Blending Trials Part 2

2009-12-24T23:24:00.000-08:00

So today we wrapped up for 2009 our blending trials of our 2008 wines. One word:WOW. They are going to be good. We got our Walla Walla Valley Syrah, Columbia Valley Syrah, Wallatage, Cab Franc and the BFM done. These wines are gong to rock, we were all impressed with the structure , body and tannin of these wines, some of which will see the better part of another year in barrel. We had some guests "blenders" today and they understood that when we say its hard work that we are not lying! We go at least 15 rounds on each wine to explore the combinations, so that what goes in the bottle, rocks!

Upcoming Underground Dinner

2009-12-21T21:53:00.000-08:00

La Porte Brune's upcoming 1st Underground Dinner is coming up on January 23rd, 2010. Seats are filling fast, if we fill up we will see what the response is and possibly add another dinner on the 24th. Check out the website: La Porte Brune

Holiday Menus

2009-12-19T19:05:00.000-08:00

So coming up we have got a lot of food to make and eat with friends and family, thought I would share these, most of these dishes will be a team effort:

Christmas Eve
Dungeness Crab Cakes
Paella
Misc Christmas Sweets

Christmas Day
American Paddlefish Caviar with Blini, Egg and Red Onion
Quail Confit Salad with Applewood Smoked Bacon, Brioche Croutons and Sherry Vinaigrette
Steak au Poivre with Roasted Fingerlings and Foie Gras Sauce
Pecan Pie with Chocolate Sauce and Salted Caramel Ice Cream

After Christmas Wine Dinner
Tuna Poke
Escargot with Bacon, Butter and Garlic
Crispy Pork Belly with Arugula and Pomegranate Vinaigrette
Wild Mushroom Veloute
Duck Fat Poached Tenderloin with Bacon/Blue Cheese Mac and Cheese
Souffle du Jour

New Years Eve/Kent's Birthday
Lobster Leo's
Cassoulet
White Wine Poached Pears with Almond Creme Chantilly

There will be plenty of pics and probably some step by step on the cassoulet. For the wine dinner each couple is digging deep in their respective cellar and there should be some real gems. Stay tuned for the updates on these!

Blending Trials, Inside the War Room

2009-12-18T06:27:00.000-08:00

Thursday we started are tasting through our 2008 barrels in order to force rank our lots for our blending trials on Monday and Tuesday. We started with our Merlot lots, then moved into the Cab Franc and Malbec lots and finished the day with Cabernet Sauvignon. All of these wines come from Birch Creek, Minnick Hills, Sconni in the Walla Walla Valley, Stone Tree( Wahluke Slope), and Kestrel(Yakima Valley) vineyards. On a whole these wines are tasting great and look to be some of the best wines that DV has put in bottle when that day comes. Friday we will taste through our Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Sangiovese and Tempranillo lots. Though this might seem like a fun day at the office, it requires your palate to be on and a lot of focus on the wine. Everyone present puts their input in as to likes, dislikes, nose, palate, body and finish etc. which open things up to a lively debate. Our goal is to put the best lots in our best bottles and that takes some work deciphering at this point in the barrel. So then on Monday and Tuesday we start taking our favorites and seeing where they will fit into our program. Fun stuff!

Birch Creek Late Harvest Syrah, Part Two

2009-12-16T20:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we pressed of the Birch Creek Late Harvest Syrah. We had brought it in on the 16th of November, at around 38 brix. We got about 1 ton of fruit and split it into 2 different fermenters. It was done as a whole cluster fermentation. We combined the lots for the press and got about 1 barrel of free run juice, or about 60 gallons. We then pressed it off in .2 increments until it wouldn't give up any more juice, keeping each press separate. We probably got another 40 gallons of press if I combined all the yields. It is still finishing primary fermentation. The photo's are of the free run juice. It is a little cloudy as all of the solids are suspended and have not settled out after dumping it into the press.

Wine, Food and Cocktails this Weekend!

2009-12-14T20:21:00.000-08:00

As is usually the case, trips to Seattle involve lots of hard work, in my case eating and drinking. I feel like when I am there that I need to try everything, so my graze mentality is in full effect. We started the weekend off at our good friends, Kent and Renee's, where we drank two Sangiovese's from Andrew Will, a 2004 Cuvee Lucia Ciel du Cheval and a 2007 Annie Camarda Ciel du Cheval. The Annie Camarda has about 20% Cabernet Sauvignon blended in. The Cuvee Lucia, does not state the blend but seemed lighter in body, but still full of fruit as well as a little lighter in color. The Annie Camarda was the fav with nice balance of acid and tannin and a little more depth on the palate, with lots of ripe cherry notes.
The evenings dinner festivities started with some killer cocktails at Tavern Law, very cool bar in Capital Hill where we started off with a couple orders of the Foie Gras Terrine with angostura bitters gelee and Cod Fritters with a Remoulade Sauce. The Foie was a hit as we thought we could stay there most the night and just eat that! Wish I could fill you in the cocktails we all had, needless to say they were delicious. Then off to Harvest Vine, a Spanish Basque influenced restaurant. Lots of share plates, this was a killer meal, I could write a whole post on the food and wine. One of the top meals I have had in Seattle! The next day started off with the trip to the Swinery, see the previous blog, then into the city for a little grazing/shopping, Crab cocktail and Bouillabaisse from Jacks Seafood in the Market, BBQ Pork Humbow from Mee Sum Pastry, Flagship Reserve Cheese from Beechers, baguette from La Panier. The evening started back at our friends house with some vintage 96 Shramsberg Blanc de Noir, then off to Wild Ginger Seattle for some some great food and wine. We started off with a 2008 Robert Foley Napa Valley Pinot Gris and a 2007 JA Frey Vineyards Trisaetum Willamette Valley Riesling, both drinking exceptional and pairing good with the Pan-Asian foods, then our buddy Jake Kosseff, dug into the awesome list and found us couple gems! First a 2004 Zind Humbrecht Vieilles Vigne Pinot Gris, this wine was golden in color and had the acid and body that I love, it was screaming for the Indonesian style Satay's. Then to the consensus winner a 1999 Rosemount Balmoral McLaren Vale Shiraz, this wine had a nose the blended with the food that we were eating; Chinese 5 spice, black pepper, hoisin, soy and plum notes with a great dark fruit palate and light tannin, low alcohol to mesh with the lightly spice food. Thanks again Jake for that gem, loved it! Then back to the house for a desert wine from Walla Walla, the 2004 Beresan Just Candy, Late Harvest Syrah. This got me thinking about the Late Harvest Syrah we have going at Dusted Valley and excited to get it in the bottle! The next day brought a little lunch action at Artisnal in The Bravern in Bellevue, a little Kronnenberg and Fruits de Mer were in order. Dinner found us heading down to Tom Douglas' Serious Pie, we had a Fresh Chantrelle and Truffle Cheese pie as well as a Cherry Bomb Pepper and Sweet Fennel Sausage Pie, then couldn't help ourselves and ordered the Venison Sausage, Walla Walla Sweet Onion and sole de sardegna pie! All 3 were amazing, we washed it down with a great 2004 Prunotto Barbaresco and a 2006 Campodelsole Sangiovese. With are bellies full and satiated we hoped in our truck, braved the pass and headed back to Walla Walla.

Pilgrimage to the Swinery in Seattle

2009-12-14T16:41:00.000-08:00

After reading and hearing about the Swinery in West Seattle, we finally made it! It is a small little meat shop for those who enjoy artisan/craft meat. These guys source all of the meat products within a 300 mile radius from small family farms and try to keep it all organic. They are buying whole animals and utilizing everything in the course of breaking them down. Damiana the store manager, helped us pick out some great items. The cases were stuffed with cured and smoked products, and they had a fresh meat case as well. We had arrived a little to early for the selection of sandwiches and rolls. I had heard the Bacon Cinnamon Rolls had showed up later after we left. We did end up leaving there with a bag of goodies, including, Pate de Campagne, Dry Chorizo, Genovese Salami, Spicy Coppa and some Bacon Hot Dogs, which we will be having for dinner tonight. We are going to be doing a traditional Cassoulet for New Years and I will post the steps and pics from the process. We will utilize these guys for all of the sausage, lamb, pork and duck products. The photos don't do justice, you need the smell. So take the drive over the West Seattle Bridge and get you some Pig Love!

Whats been on the stove etc.

2009-12-10T05:31:00.000-08:00

Did a little heavy app party last night, and put together some fun stuff; Spicy Thai Sesame Noodle Salad, Good ol' Onion Tart( Shout out to Pete), Turkey-Scallion Meatballs with a Ginger Soy Glaze, Grilled Flank Steak Skewers with Anchovy-Garlic Butter, Sweet Potato Pancakes with Apricot and Fig Sauce and Duck Confit Risotto Cakes with Soy Cherry Glaze and Creme Fraiche. Did not have my camera with me so I thought I would put up the photo of the infamous Lobster Corn Dogs. Been a while since I have done those, the last time I think was for a lobster fest dinner at a friends house this Spring. Little news you should check out here: http://www.laportebrune.com/. Had some of this beer, http://www.westvleteren12.com/, a couple nights ago with Chad and Corey, probably the best beer I have ever tasted.

Jimgerman Bar

2009-12-06T08:18:00.000-08:00

I have always appreciated places that strive to do it right , with passion for their craft . Whether it is food, wine or in this instance cocktails. You can usually tell what your in for when you talk to the owner, chef, bartender and when they speak you can feel their passion. Whenever we make the drive to Waitsburg, we know we are in for a treat, cocktails handcrafted with passion and food simple in approach and highlighting the flavors of the season. The husband wife team of Jim and Clair German do this awesome, Jim making the drinks and Claire the food. The menu changes quite often with seasonal availability and if you like certain aspects of drinks all you have to do is tell Jim and your drink will be exactly what you want. Kudos to these folks as it is refreshing to hear people talk with passion in their voice about the craft they love! If you have not been there go, deal with the 20 minute drive from Walla Walla and it will be worth it!

Duck Confit Part two and other stuff

2009-12-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, well the wait is over, part two. After 4-5 days remove the duck from the herb and shallot mix, rub off all the excess and sear over low heat, fatty side down very slowly to render as much fat as possible. Dump that fat into the pan that you will be braising in. Take your time here it will be worth it. Melt your additional fat in a sauce pan and have ready. Turn the legs over and sear slowly on the skinside, same as the fatty side. Once all the legs are seared off and in your braising pan, cover with the additional melted duck fat, seal tightly with foil and place in a 250 degree oven. Now here is a little pet peeve of mine when I go to restaurants, if you are going to braise a piece of meat to make it tender, go all the way with it, don't cut short the time, it is noticeable!! I let this cook until the leg joint disengages from the thigh joint with no effort and the meat falls of the bone when you try to pick it up out of the fat, usually this is about 6 hours but could be longer. The fat that is in the pan can be re-used multiple times, just make sure you strain out all the solids before cooling it. At this point you have several directions you can go with your legs, keep them whole to use as a center piece of some dish, or pick all the meat off the bones, obviously saving the bones for a quick stock. So there it is, duck confit made easy! Enjoy and let me know how it turns out!

This week as been pretty hectic, on top of the confit process, I have made Brioche(twice), Chocolate Bouchons(twice), Pork Rilletes, Apple Chutney, Cherry Glaze, Creme Fraiche, Garlic Foam, Olive tapenade, Sundried Tomato Pesto, French Baguettes, Potato chips, crostini and smoked my bacon that had been curing. Now its time to relax with a little Terminal Gravity IPA!!

Duck Confit Part 1

2009-11-30T07:07:00.000-08:00

Making Duck Confit this week. One of life's little pleasures. Thought I would let everyone in on the absolute simplest but best tasting confit ever. This is my recipe that we used in the restaurant. First you want to start with Fresh Moulard Duck Legs And Thighs, I use Hudson Valley as they are the best no question. Then all you need is garlic, shallots, rosemary, thyme, duck fat and kosher salt and fresh ground white pepper. Score the legs and thighs through the fat, not cutting into the meat at all. Peel and slice your shallots very thin and separate the rings then rough chop the garlic then combine both in a bowl. In a large sealable container, start by layering the rosemary and thyme along with the shallot/garlic mix on the bottom. Sprinkle some of the kosher salt and pepper as well. place the leg/thigh piece meat side down and press firmly. Then add the same layer as you did to the bottom to the fat side of the legs. Place another layer of the leg thighs on top and cover with the remaining herbs, and shallot/garlic mix. Sprinkle more salt and pepper as well. Place a layer of plastic wrap over and firmly press down. Then seal and put in the refrigerator for about a week. Part 2 will come when it is time to cook them, oh the suspense!! And you thought restaurants never shared their secrets!

Wine and Leftovers

2009-11-29T08:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took my heritage turkey carcass and simmered it all day with onion, celery, carrot, garlic, thyme, sage, rosemary, allspice, clove, bay leaf and peppercorns. Strained it off and added the picked off turkey and egg noodles and salt and pepper. Awesome, now we will be having leftovers of the leftovers. Had some great friends over and enjoyed some outstanding wines:

2008 Buty Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc/Muscadelle, quite refreshing with nice acid from the Sauvignon Blanc and great floral notes from the Muscadelle.

2001 Christom Jessie Vineyard Pinot Noir, the nose on this wine was stunning, great earthy notes with some light fruit hints in the background. On the palate the wine still showed great fruit and had enough acid and tannin balance to be drinking great. Loved the wine.

2003 Flowers Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. Very ripe fruit on the nose and palate with lighter tannins, The acid seemed a little high but still was drinking quite nice.

2005 Betz Clos de Betz, what can you say, stunning wine, drinking great, acid, tannin and fruit all in balance with great structure.

Thanksgiving Recap

2009-11-27T08:48:00.000-08:00

Well Thanksgiving came and went....down that is! We enjoyed some great food and some great wine, menu as follows:
Meatballs and BBQ Sauce
Oyster Casserole
Sausage, Bacon and Chestnut Stuffing
Cranberry Relish
Sweet Potatoes with Pecans and Orange
Apple Brined/Roasted Heritage Turkey
Giblet Gravy
Chocolate Cream Pie
Pumpkin Pie

We enjoyed many great bottles of wine, highlights were :
2005 Betz Clos de Betz
2007 Dusted Valley BTR

Looking forward to working through all the leftovers, especially the turkey. Will be making soup with the carcass and I will post the recipe for that, not sure what direction I want to go with it still I start making it.

Turkey Brine Process

2009-11-25T19:13:00.000-08:00

So as promised here is my turkey brine, you will want to make this ahead of time so that it is cool when added to the bird.
1 cup Kosher Salt
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
2 Apples, quartered then halved
4 whole Star Anise
2 tbls whole White Peppercorn
1 tbls Juniper Berry, whole
1 tbls Allspice, whole
1/2 gal Vegetable Stock
1/2 gal Apple Cider
1 gal Cold Water
12-14lb Turkey
6 sprigs Rosemary
6 sprigs Sage
Canola Oil

Combine all the ingredients in a small stock pot and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the salt and sugar. Remove and let cool before proceeding. In a 5 gallon bucket add the water and brine mixture then place the the turkey breast side down and brine overnight or for at least 6 hours.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels. Discard the brine. Stuff the herbs into the cavity of the turkey and tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.

Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Cook until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast reads 161 degrees F. A 12 to 14 pound turkey should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.

Heritage Turkey Arrives!!

2009-11-24T16:24:00.000-08:00

My turkey arrived today in great shape, It is an American Bronze, from Frank Reese at the Good Shepherd Turkey Ranch in Lindsborg Kansas. It is about 13 pounds and will be brined Wednesday night in anticipation of the oven on Thursday. I will post steps for the brine and roast.

Dinner Tonight

2009-11-23T21:08:00.000-08:00

I always like coming back from Seattle as I can get busy with some real shopping for food. Picked up some sea beans, shiitake mushrooms, yuzu juice, Sablefish, Spot Prawns, daikon radish and a few other items. Came home and made a homemade Hoisin Glaze, julienned the daikon and a red bell pepper, blanched the sea beans, and roasted off the shiitake's in the oven with some sesame oil then julienned them. Then sauteed the all the veg/shrooms with some garlic and sesame oil, seasoned and glazed the sablefish fillets and put under the broiler, seasoned and then sauteed the Spot prawns in some sesame oil then added a little siraccha. When the veg were done remove and dress with a little yuzu juice, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil and season. Place on the plate add the fish fillet to the top of veg and spoon around the shrimp adding some of the Spot Prawn roe as garnish. Drank a little 2008 Dusted Valley Viognier with it, awesome pairing

Must be the Oak!!

2009-11-19T21:23:00.000-08:00

Today was spent barreling down some of our Birch Creek Syrah that we fermented wild. Notice the nice new WISCONSIN OAK barrels. The oak for the barrels is coming from Corey's family farm in Wisconsin then milled in Minnesota. The barrel I am using here is a Heavy Toast barrel. I wish this was smell-i-vision as the nose coming out of the barrel, during the filling was awesome. So for those wanting to try this particular barrel, well you will have to wait about 16 months, but oh will it be worth it.

Heritage Turkey and Bacon!

2009-11-17T17:31:00.000-08:00

With Thanksgiving coming up I thought I would see who if any peeps are going with a Heritage Turkey. We are getting a 16lb fresh Turkey delivered on the 24th. I am very excited about that! I will post the rest of the menu as soon as soon as it comes to me. Here is the link for where we purchased ours: http://www.heritagefoodsusa.com/

On another note, I got my bacon curing tonight. I am using a local Organic farm, called Thundering Hooves. As soon as it is done curing and then getting smoked with applewood I will post some photo's. Should be about 7-10 days. It was a 4.5 pound fresh slab. It just gets me thinking of the day that our Mangalitsa Hogs (thats them in the photo) will be ready to slaughter. Probably next fall, so for now I can only drool thinking about them!

Birch Creek Vineyard Late Harvest Syrah

2009-11-16T19:17:00.000-08:00

Today we brought in some Late Harvest Syrah from Birch Creek Vineyard in Walla Walla. We have let it hang out in the vineyard until it started to hard shrivel and take on some raisin traits. We will run labs on it tomorrow, but the brix are going to be somewhere around 38. We got about 1 ton to play with. So just like Lucille Ball, we had our intern Tyler, foot stomp it. Yes the boots were sanitized so don't worry. So if you have ever tried to juice a raisin, you know that Tyler did not have to hit the YMCA tonight after work! We are going to let it cold soak a couple days then inoculate it and get the temp up on it to start fermentation. Enjoy the pics and yes there is SNOW on the Blue Mountains.

Beef Sando Recipe

2009-11-16T06:25:00.000-08:00

Here is my version of the Classic Chicago Hot Beef Sando:
8lb Top Round Roast, slightly trimmed up
20 cloves Garlic
2 tablespoons crushed Black Pepper
2 tablespoons Onion Powder
2 tablespoons Dried Oregano
1 tablespoon Red Chili Flakes
8 Beef Bullion Cubes
16 cups water to start
salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place large roasting pan on stove and bring water to a boil. Add the beef bullion cubes and disolve. Mix the Black Pepper, Onion Powder, Oregano and Chili flakes together. Make slits all over the roast and insert the garlic cloves. Rub the roast with the dry mix and add the rest to the water. Place a rack over the water mix and place the roast on it, cover and place in oven. Roast for about 3 1/2 hours or until internal temp is 140. During the roasting process you may need to add more water, I added about an additional 12 cups during the process. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes, then place in refridgerator for a couple hours before slicing. Strain your jus into a pan and set aside. When the roast has firmed up, slice as thin as possible against the grain, a meat slicer is ideal. Reheat the jus and adjust seasoning, either by adding a little more water if to salty or a little salt if to bland. Take your sliced meat and put in the heated jus for a few minutes to warm up, place on a soft roll. Here is were variations come in:
1. You can add sauteed peppers
2. Add peppers and provolone and put under broiler
3. Do 1 and 2 then dunk the whole sando in the jus, which we did
4. Do 1, 2, 3 and then pour more jus over it once its on the plate, which we did
You should be able to get 10-12 piled high sando's from one roast.
Enjoy!!

Hot Chicago Italian Beef Sando's

2009-11-15T21:43:00.000-08:00

So we finally got the Top Round Roast cooked off, rested and chilled, then sliced. Doctored up the au jus a little and here it is. Just to let you know the sandwich was well over a pound of meat plus a little provolone, and sauteed red bell peppers on a demi- baguette. And our plates were cleaned off!! We washed it all down with a little Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar amongst some other adult beverages.

Dinner last night!

2009-11-15T07:46:00.000-08:00

Thought I would post some pic's of the dinner I did last night, sorry for the quality as that will get remedied today. Enjoy the photo's, dinner was at Dunham Cellars. Looking forward to the Chicago Style hot beef sando's tonight and oh you bet they will be messy and dunked in the jus!!!!

Oh the Roast Beast!!

2009-11-14T07:59:00.001-08:00

After smokin' and bbq'n 65 pounds of tritip last week for Dusted Valley's STS Wine Club Release Party, I have had a craving for Hot Chicago Style Roast Beef Sandwich, unfortunatly living in Walla Walla hinders running to Big Al's in Little Italy. So the plan spend, Sunday a.m gathering ingredients and Sunday p.m. making it. There will be pic's for sure as picking up a new camera will somehow appear on the ingredient list. I will post the recipe as well, once done. Stay tuned as this one will be messy.........

Cooking again!

2009-11-13T07:27:00.000-08:00

Today, will be a fun day as I am putting together stuff for a small dinner. Some old stuff, ala Andrae's circa 2004 and some new stuff. Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Soup with Pancetta and Pomegranate, Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Tart with Baby Greens and Andrae's Famous Sherry Vinaigrette, Apple Cider Braised Pork Belly with Cranberry Chutney and Celeriac Puree and finishing off with a dense Roasted Walnut Cake with Calvados Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce. Should be a nice little fall themed dinner.

Lets get this going again!!

2009-11-12T22:39:00.001-08:00

Okay, time to keep this thing up to date, I will do my best to keep all things food and wine in my life on this page. Crush is pretty much over and I have time to breathe and do some writing. Stay tuned for some food updates and some new photo's.

2009-06-08T07:04:00.000-07:00

So Saturday at the market in WW was the best of the spring so far. Beets, baby turnips, radishes, baby carrots, baby potato's and fresh herbs all in and looking good. The first cherries of the year, though from Yakima, were in as well. Strawberries were quite a bit bigger and a little more sweeter. Greens were abundant. Did a brunch on Sunday on the Dusted Valley patio. Wanted to keep it simple and brunch comfort food. Made a couple Frittada's, one with asparagus, salad onions and tarragon, the other with black pepper, new potatos and fava beans, each with a touch of Parmesan. Made some breakfast sausage, with a local pig bought from the Milton-Freewater FFA, with some maple and fresh sage. Homemade buttermilk biscuits and the obligatory sausage gravy and cheese grits. Washed all of it down with some awesome bloody marys and mimosa's. Took all of the scraps over to the pigs for slop and had a great day.

2009-06-01T21:38:00.001-07:00

So Terminal Gravity rocks! Drove over from WW Sunday, after a fairly rough night, but the 2 hour drive was worth it. They don't open to 4 on Sunday so we killed a little time by checking out Joseph and Lake Wallowa, beautiful place to kill time. The menu at the pub is small but tight. They try to use local produce as much as possible and source the buffalo they use for the burger from a local rancher. We started with a order of the nachos and then had penne 4 cheese pasta and Buffalo burger, washed down with several pints of the IPA. everything was awesome and well seasoned. The portions are huge so come hungry. We left with 5 cases of brew and headed back to Walla Walla, home before dark. What a great day trip!

2009-05-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

So heading into the Walla Walla Farmers Market on Saturday morning, I was excited to see what the warm weather we have had is doing for our produce. Fresh Fava Beans and Strawberries, both first of the season, made their appearance. Rhubarb, looks like it is winding down and leaf greens are in full abundance as are the WW salad onions, which are now getting bigger, which means that the Sweets are right around the corner. Montaillet Fromagerie was sampling a new item, fresh Sheeps milk cheese, delicious on a crostini with Fava Bean pesto. Green garlic is looking great, which I used in the pesto and chimichurri that I made last night. We are a couple weeks away from having an abundance of produce at the market. Also the arugula was looking awesome. Made a salad with grilled asparagus and grilled salad onions over the arugula and tossed with homemade balsamic vinaigrette. I will start adding recipes as the need arises. untill then keep drooling. Paired up the Chimichurri/skirt steak and grilled tomatos with the 07 Dusted Valley Malbec and the 06 Grand Ciel from Delille. Both pairings worked great with the spice and meatiness of the dish, the wines balance was awesome as the acidity played well and the alchohols were in check. Great combo! Cooked Bricked Chicken with Lemon/olive oil nage and local lemon thyme and paired it with 03 Joblot Givrey 1er cru, delicious. Thats all for now, headin to Terminal Gravity in Enterprise OR, for a little lunch and IPA.

2009-05-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

So this is my first foray into the world of food and wine blogging. I am not a writer, but I do have a complete understanding of food and wine through my work and background, I guess stealing a line form a movie, I have a certain type of skill that will allow me to eat and drink then report to you with that information. It may include restaurant visits, winery visits and my extensive cooking for friends family and events. So stay tuned and we will keep you in the loop for the full monty on all things food and wine in Walla Walla.