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Newsletter for September 2006 Your source for what’s cooking at OBW
25 South Indian Alley Winchester VA, 22601 540-662-1455 |
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This month, it’s a very short newsletter. But, with our computer’s hard drive dying and a week at the beach, I consider myself lucky to have written anything at all. For our vacation, we went to the Eastern Shore of Virginia: read all about my daughter’s thoughts on the food over there on Chincoteague Island. And, I finally have all the details about how you can attend the private cooking lessons and dinner for twelve at the Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre Designer Show House. I take a look at two of my favorite foods: figs and Pimentón de la Vera, from which I make a killer sauce for the figs, wrapped in Serrano ham. And maybe you’ll draw a little inspiration for your own cooking from the menu for our Caribbean Fusion dinner. Finally, I created a salad with grilled figs that is selling so quickly that you’re going to want to try it at home.
Thanks for all your business. I’m rested after vacation and waiting to cook for you.
All my best,
Ed Matthews, Chef/Owner
Every Wednesday is Tapas Night Each Wednesday night, we serve tapas from 5:00pm to 9:00pm. Tapas are small, fun dishes, designed so that you can try a range of foods. Last week we featured 24 dishes, of which 10 were vegetarian. My favorite tapa was Grilled Baby “Graffiti” Eggplant with Spicy Hummus.
Thursday, September 21, Annual Oktoberfest Dinner with Tröegs Brewery Join special guest Chris Trogner of Tröegs Brewery as we sample his beers during our fourth annual Oktoberfest dinner. $60 per person. Reception from 6:30pm to 7:00pm. First course promptly at 7:00pm.
Sunday, October 8, 1-3pm, Free Demonstration at Arborfest at Blandy Experimental Farm Each Columbus Day weekend, The State Arboretum of Virginia hosts ArborFest, the Arboretum’s fall festival and plant sale. Hours are 9 to 4:30 both Saturday and Sunday, rain or shine. It’s become a tradition that I give a cooking demonstration featuring many of the herbs grown at the farm on Sunday afternoon. I always have a great time at this event. Come join me!
Sunday, October 15, 4pm-until, Cooking Lessons and Dinner at SSMT Designer House in Boyce Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre is holding a designer show house in Boyce, in which many local designers have decorated the rooms. I will be offering cooking lessons and dinner for twelve people after the doors close on Sunday the 15th. More details below.
Thursday, October 26, Burgundy Dinner We’re still firming up the details of this dinner featuring wine and food of the Bourgogne. I have some stunning wines in mind. Price is $75 per person. Reception from 6:30pm to 7:00pm. First course promptly at 7:00pm.
Thursday, November 16, Daring Dinner—Are You Brave Enough? My sous chef Danny and I are designing a menu for chefs. These are dishes we would order if we had the time to go out, dishes such as Prosciutto-Wrapped Sweetbreads and Braised Veal Cheeks, things are perfectly delicious, but which most people don’t have the guts to try. Do you?
Thursday, December 21, Annual Greatest Hits Dinner For our annual Greatest Hits dinner, we will be combing through the thousands of dishes that we have done in 2006 and designing a five-course menu of our customers' favorite dishes, paired with wines. As always, One Block West Rewards members receive a discount.
During our week off, my wife and I took the kids to Chincoteague, VA, partly for the ponies, partly for the gorgeous beach, and partly just to get away from the crowds for a sorely needed rest. Many of you wished us well before we left and speculated that I’d be able to have some great seafood, my favorite food, over on the island.
Well, the beach on Assateague Island is worth the trip—30 or so miles of flat, white sand and very few people. The ponies, they’re all over, and they smell like, well, like ponies smell. The seafood, however, is in a world unto itself. To quote my eldest daughter, “The food sucks!” Before leaving, I secretly yearned for some grilled bluefish, roasted spot, croaker, or sea trout. And out there in my wildest fantasies: sautéed sea squab, fillets of northern puffer (Sphaeroides maculatus). (I know all these fish are there—I saw surf fishermen pulling them out.)
Alas, the menus of the one-name restaurants (Don’s, Etta’s, Bill’s, etc.) are all identical, fully mired in 1972, and they sucked even then. You have your choice of crab cakes (broiled or deep fried), scallops (broiled or deep fried), crab imperial, oysters (deep fried or steamed), coconut shrimp, deep-fried frozen softshells, or flounder with some God-forsaken gloppy sauce on top. And that, my friends, is all. If it doesn’t come from a freezer bag, they don’t have it.
The seafood industry on the island is dead and the restaurateurs could care less. Worse still, there’s no place to buy fresh seafood, not even at the docks where the few remaining fishermen tie up. While I had a great time getting away from it all and chasing ghost crabs after dark, I wouldn’t go for the food. The one thing that I kept coming back to time and time again is that we are all very lucky to have the access to the seafood that we have at One Block West.
Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre Designer Show House
On weekends and Wednesdays from October the 14th through the 29th, the Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre Designer Show House will be open in Boyce. Each room of the house in Boyce Crossing, built by OakCrest Builders, will showcase the work of several local designers. You’ll be able to see great decorating ideas for your home and help support SSMT, which brings wonderful theatre productions to our community all summer long.
As part of the fundraising effort, I am donating private cooking lessons and a dinner for twelve people, starting at 4pm on Sunday the 15th when the house closes to the general public. Tickets are $250 per couple and may be purchased directly from SSMT by calling Sue Robinson at 540-665-4545.
I am planning an elegant 3-course meal that you can cook easily in a home kitchen. This will be a hands on event, so come to play and have fun. Here’s the menu I have in mind:
Baby Greens with Stilton Cheese, Heirloom Apples, Toasted Walnuts, and Port-Apple Cider Dressing
Roulade of Pork Loin Stuffed with Porcini Mushroom Mousse Israeli Couscous in the Style of Risotto Milanese Roasted Haricots Verts
Dulce de Leche Ice Cream with Roasted Apples and Apple Cider Sabayon
When I was a kid in the 1960s, every spice rack had a jar of stale, generic red dust called paprika, whose sole function was to decorate the top of dishes such as broiled flounder and deviled eggs with a bit of color. The jar sat next to the dried parsley jar, used in the same manner when a bit of musty green garnish was called for by Betty Crocker. For decades then, paprika was therefore relegated to that list in my mind of totally useless and irrelevant spices.
As I have grown older, I have come to appreciate paprika to the point where one kind has now moved onto my list of five must-have spices. I keep two kinds in the pantry at the restaurant. But before we delve into the details, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page.
Paprika is what a lot of the world calls sweet peppers (Capsicum annuum), but what we’re talking about here is not the fresh peppers, but the ground spice made from the dried versions of the peppers. And in my lexicon, paprika is distinct from various powdered spicy chiles, such as ground cayenne or ancho.
About ten years ago, maybe a bit longer, I started hearing about this great “new” paprika from Extremadura in Spain that went by the name Pimentón de la Vera. As I started playing with it, I became hooked on it, and since it has become the OBW pet spice.
More recently, I have been delving into North African cooking from Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, in which ground sweet (and hot) peppers play a pivotal role, taking my paprika knowledge way beyond the ersatz goulash I used to cook in college. In fact, my search for quality paprika for my African dishes has come full circle back to where I started in my paprika explorations: the best paprika still comes from Hungary.
So, let’s take a trip to Hungary and come back by way of Spain. Paprika is traditionally associated with Hungary, although it’s a relative newcomer, arriving there in the 16th century, but not becoming common until the 18th century. Two towns, Szeged on the Tisza river and Kalosca on the Danube, have become famous for their paprika and we use a brand from Szeged at the restaurant and I use one from Kalosca at home. They’re all pretty good. In Hungary, paprika is celebrated in their quasi national dish called gulyás (what we call goulash), a beef, onion, and potato soup, usually served with dumplings that have been cooked in the broth. The thick beef stew version that you probably call goulash is really called pörkölt, and if you add cream or sour cream to pörkölt, the result is paprikás (pronounced paprikash). Spain is another country known for lavish use of paprika. While Spain makes a lot of typical paprika, it is also home to one of the culinary gems of the world, Pimentón de la Vera, the first and one of only two peppers in the world to be granted an official appellation of origin, the other being Piment d’Espelette from the Basque area of France. Unlike Hungarian paprika, for which you can substitute any mild ground pepper, there is no substitute for Pimentón de la Vera. The reason for this has to do with climate. Unlike more arid eastern Spain where peppers can dry on the bush and in the sun, Extremadura and the La Vera valley see fall rains that preclude air drying their peppers. So, each fall, like each fall for centuries, the peppers are brought inside and dried over oak fires. The peppers are turned by hand daily over a period of about two weeks. Once dry, the peppers have a haunting smokiness and richness that Mexican chipotles can only dream of having. If you have ever tasted a Spanish chorizo, or lomo de cerdo, or a true paella, you know the haunting smokiness to which I am so helplessly addicted. Pimentón de la Vera is offered in three types, dulce (sweet or mild), picante (hot or spicy), and agridulce (bittersweet), a blend of dulce and picante. Cooking with paprika is pretty straightforward. It is highly oil soluble, so it is best to cook it in a little oil to release its color and flavor. But, like garlic, it will burn quickly, so always add paprika to your pan just before you are ready to add liquid ingredients. Working with the dry powder, which we often do when adding it to dressings or adding it directly to beaten eggs, can be a trying experience. Two techniques help avoid clumping. First, you can sift the paprika into your dish and mix it thoroughly. Second, you can make a paste with paprika and a small amount of liquid before adding the full volume of liquid. In short, if you pretend you are working with flour, you will know how to handle paprika. Finally, we only keep the sweet kinds of paprika in the pantry. If we want more heat, we can always add cayenne for kick. When buying Hungarian paprika, I look for édesnemes (sweet and noble) and for either Szeged or Kalosca on the label. For pimentón, I always buy the dulce or agridulce from La Chinata. Although there are 13 licensed manufacturers, very few are distributed here in the US, and La Chinata has never let me down. Hungarian paprika is widely available in finer grocery stores. Pimentón de la Vera is available at various places on the Internet, including La Tienda in Williamsburg.
Finally, buy paprika in small quantities (we buy a kilo at a time; you should buy tiny containers), because it goes musty in just a few months. And paprika is far too interesting a spice to have lying around your spice rack, relegated to your list of useless and irrelevant spices simply because it is musty.
I love figs. My first experience with them was in high school when we moved into a house in Alabama with a fig bush in the back yard. I can remember coming home from school and gorging on the little turkey figs that were juicy and warm from the sunshine. It’s a wonder I didn’t get sick. Little did I know then how precious a commodity it was that I was eating by the quart. Only later in life have I come to realize that figs don’t travel well and are therefore expensive.
It’s been really hard introducing them at the restaurant, for many customers have never seen them before and are reluctant to try them, even when we give them away for free as an amuse-bouche at the beginning of the meal. But, I keep on trying them during the summer when they’re in season and customers are starting to catch on to how good they are.
The common fig (Ficus carica) is one of the oldest cultivated fruits, dating from at least 10,000 years ago, and originating in the Eastern Mediterranean and Southwest Asia. Figs came to the US with the early Spanish missionaries and were planted largely at the missions in California. Most of our figs come from California, although I do see some from Texas on occasion.
From Texas we get the small brown turkey figs similar to those I ate as a kid. While they are wonderful, even more delectable figs come from California. We regularly see the big brown Mission figs (gee, I wonder where that name came from?) but only rarely do we get the big gold Calimyrnas, the Smyrna fig from Turkey, renamed after its new home in California. Once in a blue moon do we see fresh Kadotas, big and yellow; most of them seem to end up dried. All of the varieties are excellent.
As they ripen, figs go from firm to soft. This happens fairly quickly, so I always refrigerate them, uncovered. And it is a fairly quick transition from soft to moldy, so eat them as soon as they are soft.
Here are some ideas for you. Eat them out of hand until you are sick! Split them in half and grill them—grilled figs go great with duck and pork. Split in half and stuff with Manchego cheese, then wrap in prosciutto. Poach with a cinnamon stick, a little sugar, and lemon slices. Serve over duck, pork, or vanilla or ginger ice cream. Roast with honey and serve over ice cream. Serve with Port and Stilton cheese. And finally, see the salad idea below.
Our Labor Day Weekend Caribbean Fusion Dinner is the first time that I have really turned my sous chef Daniel Robayo loose on a menu. He did a great job and I only had to do a few tweaks to make it play with the wines. Wish you could have been there with us: we had a lot of fun (and yes, those wontons stuffed with sweet Gulf white shrimp, cream cheese, and mango chutney that I made myself, those critters tasted better even than they sound). Customers must have liked the dinner for they gave Danny a big hand.
Shrimp, Mango, and Cream Cheese Wontons with Mango Salsa and Honey-Lime Sauce Dr. Loosen “Dr. L” Riesling 2005 ab “Arroz con Pollo” Arugula Salad with Caribbean Rice and Grilled Chicken, Cilantro Aďoli Château de Fesles Rosé d’Anjou 2005 ab Seared Yellowfin Tuna on Caribbean Cabbage Slaw Achiote Aďoli Dr. von Bassermann-Jordan Riesling Trocken 2004 ab Jerked Pork Loin Roulade Stuffed with Roasted Plátanos Jamaican Rice and Peas, Rum-Lime-Black Pepper Sauce Elizabeth Spencer Syrah Rosé Sonoma Coast 2005 ab Grilled Sugar Cane Skewers of Pineapple, Mango, and Papaya Coconut Sorbet, Lime-Vanilla Curd, and Toasted Coconut Karl Erbes Riesling Kabinett, Ürziger Würzgarten, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer 2004
Recipe: Prosciutto, Arugula, Goat Cheese, and Grilled Fig Salad
Wow! Talk about dishes that just fly off the menu. I have a winner here. When my specialty produce buyer called me and asked if I would take a case of very ripe Calimyrna figs off her hands at a great price, I said yes and had to think quickly how to use them. This is the result, in a quantity for two people.
8 slices prosciutto 4 oz baby arugula 2 oz fresh goat cheese 4 large figs honey
Lemon Dressing: Juice of one lemon 3 T extra virgin olive oil ˝ t Dijon mustard salt and pepper to taste
Cut the figs in half and place them cut side down on the grill and grill until marked, 3-4 minutes. (Or, just serve them raw if you can’t be bothered to fire up the grill.) Whisk all the ingredients for the dressing together and adjust the seasoning. If too tart add more oil or a little honey. Lay four slices of prosciutto on each dinner plate, two east-west and two north-south, covering the plate and forming a square.
Toss the arugula in enough dressing to coat and mound in the center of the prosciutto. Crumble the goat cheese over. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place four fig halves on each plate, cut side up, in each of the four corners of the prosciutto. Drizzle each fig with honey. Serve immediately.
Fall finds me out and about a lot on my days off. Look for me at the local wineries on Sundays—there are at least ten within an easy drive. I’ll be around. I hope that you’ll take advantage of the beautiful fall weather to patronize some of the local wineries and show your support.
And, I’d just like to remind you that our silly season starts about the third week of September. We can be booked solid on almost any night of the week from then until Thanksgiving. We don’t want to disappoint you, so please call ahead.
All my best and come see us when you can,
Ed
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Copyright © 2006 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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