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Newsletter for April 2005 Your source for what’s cooking at OBW
25 South Indian Alley Winchester VA, 22601 540-662-1455 |
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Spring is starting to make itself felt, at long last. The daffodils are in full bloom and our deck is open on nice days. Come see the fabulous pansies in our window boxes!
Please excuse the delay in this edition of the newsletter: my DSL modem and I have done some serious battle recently. I finally won.
Please help me keep our wine dinners going. They got off to a roaring start: the first three dinners of the year were wildly overbooked. But, unfortunately, we had to cancel the March dinner for overwhelming lack of enthusiasm. Bookings for the April dinner are way off and it, too, is in jeopardy of being canceled.
These dinners are a blast for everyone. I enjoy finding excellent pairings for the wines and cooking things that wouldn’t necessarily be on the dinner menu. All who have attended have enjoyed meeting the winemakers and tasting their products. Our next dinner is Wednesday the 20th at 6:30pm featuring the wines of North Mountain Vineyard. Book your table soon to support our Virginia wine industry.
And a note on shad roe. Just after I started trumpeting the arrival of the season in last month’s newsletter, I found that VA, MD, and DE all closed seasons this year and we couldn’t get any roe for two weeks. Early roe came from the Carolinas and now we are starting to get some in from up north. Prices are up as roe is scarce, but we generally have a few sets every day. Please call to confirm availability.
Looking forward to seeing you and serving you,
Ed Matthews, Chef/Owner
There are hundreds of you on our email list who are not taking advantage of our One Block West Rewards program and for the life of me, I cannot figure out why. This program rewards frequent diners with free gift certificates, just for dining with us. If you eat with us at least four times a year, you should participate in this program in which there are no catches, no fine print, and nothing other than free food as my way of saying thank you for supporting our business. It’s just like frequent flyer miles, except we don’t spam you! ;) And by the way, we do a quarterly drawing for a Dinner for Two certificate and we have special events with preferred pricing, just for Rewards members. (More information…)
The winner of our 1st quarter drawing for a Dinner for Two certificate is Neil Seymour of Winchester. Congrats to Neil, whose certificate is in the mail.
Wednesday April 20th, Wine Dinner with North Mountain Vineyard of Maurertown, VA We’ll be pouring four North Mountain wines at this dinner: Vidal Blanc, Claret, Chambourcin, and Sweet Caroline’s Blush. The Vidal and Chambourcin are standards on our dinner menu and the Claret is what I drink when I go to the winery. $55 per person, by reservation only.
April 26-May 1, Closed for Apple Blossom We’ll be taking a much needed break and working on the restaurant. See you after The Bloom.
Trans fat seems to be the dietary buzzword du jour. I never gave it much thought until I saw a food package with a big splash on the label, saying “Contains NO Trans Fat.” I realized I had no idea what a trans fat was or why the food company thought I should care. I know now that trans fats are the latest name for (partially) hydrogenated fats. Trans fat is shorthand for transitional fatty acid, fats that result when hydrogen gas is bubbled through vegetable oil, a process called partial hydrogenation. This stabilizes the fat (giving it longer shelf life) and solidifies it (such as in margarine or Crisco). Bottom line, trans fats raise LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels and lowers HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels. We use only natural fats in our cooking—olive oil, grapeseed oil, various nut oils, and butter—and we don’t use any pre-prepared foods that might contain hydrogenated fats. Now I know and so do you. ;)
Corks can contribute to spoiled wine. Screwcaps are a promising alternate closure reeling from a bad association with jug wine. Where do you fall in the great cork versus screwcap debate? (Here’s my opinion…)
The idea in opening sparkling wine is to gently let off the pressure without making that big “pop!” To open the bottle, remove the capsule (most have a tab that you can pull to assist in removal), always keeping the cork pointed towards the ceiling and away from people. With one hand around the neck of the bottle with your thumb over the wire cage in case the cork decides to fly, untwist the cage and gently remove it. Grasping the cork firmly in one hand and the base of the bottle in the other, turn the bottle (not the cork!). As the cork loosens, you will feel upward pressure. Applying slight resistance and holding the bottle stationary, tilt the cork away from you to gently bleed off the pressure. When the pressure is equalized, pull the cork out and serve the wine.
Every time that I do a public demonstration, the attendees always want to know exactly what kind of knife that I use, meaning what brand I use. I almost always reply “one that fits my hand.” There are much more important selection criteria than brand, and here are three very important ones, none of which have much to do with price. (Read the article…)
Recipe: Flounder Bercy
One customer called this the best flounder that he had ever eaten. It may have been, but I cannot take credit for it. This is a French classic straight from Le Répertoire de la Cuisine: “poached with shallots and chopped parsley, white wine and fish stock. Reduce the stock, add butter.” This, by the way, is a typical chef recipe: brief and utterly to the point.
This dish is made in France with the local soles. Here, it makes more sense to use our perfectly fresh flounder from the Bay.
With minimal ingredients, the success of this dish depends entirely on the highest quality ingredients and the lightest cooking touch. To cook this dish well is to have accomplished something.
Flounder Bercy
1 shallot, minced 2 six-to-eight oz flounder fillets ¼ c fish stock (optional, see note below) white wine 1 T minced parsley 1 lemon 1 T butter salt and pepper
Heat your oven to hot, at least 400F. Scatter the minced shallot over the bottom of an oven-proof pan and lay the flounder fillets over the shallots. Sprinkle the fillets with a little salt and pepper (classic French technique calls for white pepper so you don’t see the black specks, but don’t run out and get some just for this recipe). Pour in the fish stock and white wine to come halfway up the fish fillets. (The dish tastes a bit better with fish stock, but for home cooking, it is no sin to use only white wine.)
Light the flame under the fish and bring the liquid in the pan just to a boil. Place the pan in the hot oven. Small flounder like those I have specified here will cook in a total time of about three to four minutes, so watch them carefully. You will see the flesh turn opaque, starting from the edges and working towards the center. When the center just turns opaque, remove the fish to a warm plate.
Place the pan back on max flame and reduce the braising liquid to a couple of tablespoons. (Classic technique would have you strain the shallots out. Are they kidding? Your fish is ready to eat and still cooking while you are fiddling with the sauce.) Off the heat, quickly add the parsley and a few drops of lemon juice, the swirl in the butter to thicken the sauce. Season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste.
Now here’s what I didn’t tell you. Ingredients matter. If the fish is not squeaky clean, don’t buy it. Use a fruity white with reasonable acidity; skip that oaky Chard. We use Picpoul de Pinet. Use only bright fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley and fresh lemon juice. Buy the best butter on the market. When we can get it, we use local butter from Jersey cows. When we can’t, we buy European-style butter such as Plugrá.
Each week I get emails asking me about various cooking techniques and/or using ingredients. Every month in the newsletter, I will publish one or two interesting topics. Feel free to send email if there is some technique or ingredient that you need help with.
Here’s a timely tip, just in time for both grilling and asparagus season. Several customers have asked how we grill our asparagus so that it is cooked all the way through without the exterior being scorched. I never thought of this as a trick, but the trick as it were is to boil or steam the asparagus first and then grill it for just a few minutes to get that wonderful smoky taste. Be sure to baste with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. If you want to blanch the asparagus in advance of grilling, be sure to shock it in ice water afterwards to stop the cooking.
Tip: Beside our grill sits a pan of herbed oil that we use for basting. We leave a pan of oil beside the grill and add scraps of herbs to it over time, replenishing the oil as needed. Into the oil go the stems of parsley, sage, cilantro, thyme, rosemary, and chervil, the occasional yellowed leaf or chive, and whatever other herb scraps we generate in the kitchen. This oil is wonderful for basting whatever goes on the grill and for wiping down the grill itself to keep food from sticking. One warning: no garlic. Garlic submerged in oil provides the perfect anaerobic environment for the growth of botulism and none of us need that.
Tip Too: Don’t buy expensive pastry brushes at the kitchen gadget store. Do as we do: go to your favorite home improvement store and buy the inexpensive natural bristle brushes.
Business has been excellent through the first quarter, thanks to you. I appreciate your support. Remember, if there is anything that we can do for you, let us know. We can do many things from procuring ingredients and kitchen equipment for you to renting you wine glasses for a party. Just let us know; we do it all the time.
And by the way, our Chef’s Table is open now (you know the one, the harem table in the corner with the curtains and veils), with multi-course dinners paired with wines, from $60 per person, 4-6 persons, on our slower nights, Tue-Thu, guaranteed by credit card.
Finally, I have met many of you at the Freight Station Farmer’s Market. Because of the sewer construction, Beth Nowak is moving to the parking lot on Valley Ave. across from Handley High, starting Tuesday, May 3. I look forward to seeing you there. As always, feel free to ask me how to cook whatever vegetable it is that you are interested in.
Ed
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Copyright © 2005 Shenandoah Food and Beverage Holdings, LLC sensational seasonal cuisine and the W logo are trademarks of Shenandoah Food and Beverage Holdings, LLC. |
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