Tag Archives: Sarah Rich

July 5, 2015 · 7:29 pm

CHICKEN PANZANELLA – CLEARING OUT THE FRIDGE

Sarah said that she wanted to cook dinner at least once while she was visiting. I agreed. Who wouldn’t want an award-winning chef cooking in the kitchen. The limit set for the adventure was that it had to follow her High protein/low carb regimen. The other thing was that I didn’t want to go to the store again, so she decided to use what was in the pantry and the refrigerator.

She chose to make chicken panzanella. I reminded her that the dish referred to a traditional Italian bread salad. She said, “Just don’t eat the bread.” Point made.

I have not been too specific about quantities except for the chicken breasts – we only had two – and the bread – we had already started eating a pound-and-a-half loaf. Adjust the quantities of the various other ingredients to your particular likes and to the size of the group you plan to serve.

Some of the keys to success include making certain that the bread cubes are completely dried out and firm. Otherwise, they will absorb too much of the juice from the vegetables and wind up being soggy. The seedless grapes are a surprise: they make a sweet foil for the other acidic and bitter components of the salad. The avocado is also not a usual ingredient in a traditional Panzanella, but it makes a tasty addition. You can add more lettuce, but it might overwhelm the other flavors of the salad. You can use your favorite vinaigrette, but simple oil and vinegar allow you to adjust the acidity just as you prefer.

Chicken breasts marinating in buttermilk/yogurt with scallions

Marinated chicken breasts ready for sauteing

Chicken on the grill

Grilled marinated chicken breasts

Bread cubes drying completely in a 250°F oven

Peppers lightly sauteed

Ingredients ready for assembly

Selection of herbs from the garden

Ready to serve

Assembled chicken panzanella

Served up on a backyard table

RECIPE

Chicken Panzanella

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
buttermilk
Greek yogurt
scallions, chopped coarsely
1 pound (2/3 loaf) farm-style bread, (Sage Bakehouse), cut into ¾-inch cubes, crust on
extra virgin olive oil
salt
snacking peppers, seeded, coarsely chopped, and lightly sautéed so that they are still crunchy
butter lettuce (about 1/3 head)
cherry tomatoes, halved
snacking cucumbers, peeled and cut into ½ inch circles
red seedless grapes, halved
avocado, diced
fresh garden herbs (parsley, mint, oregano, tarragon)
white wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Method

Marinate the chicken breasts for 2 hours in a mixture of equal parts of buttermilk and Greek yogurt with sliced scallions. Turn frequently.
While the chicken breasts are marinating, toss the bread cubes with olive oil and salt, and dry in a 250°F oven until they are completely dry. Set aside.
Lightly sauté the peppers in a hot skillet until they are slightly wilted, but still crisp.
Wash, dry, and cut the lettuce into bite-sized pieces. Prepare the tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes and avocado. Wash the herbs, remove the leaves from the stems, and chop finely. Set everything aside.
Drain extra marinade from the chicken breasts and grill over a hot flame until the chicken is cooked through and the marinade has turned into a golden glaze. Let the grilled chicken rest for 5 minutes, and then cut into ½ inch cubes.
In a large serving bowl, combine the chicken, bread cubes, peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes, avocado, and herbs. Dress with white wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil to taste. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Let sit for 30 minutes to allow the bread to absorb some of the juices from the vegetables. Serve.

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Tagged as avocado, bread cubes, chicken breasts, Chicken panzanella, Sarah Rich, seedless grapes, snacking cucumbers, snacking peppers

July 1, 2015 · 11:50 am

SALADE NIÇOISE: HIGH PROTEIN/LOW CARB DIETS

This is a great time of the year. Our grandchildren are out of school, and their parents are looking for a little relaxing time. That means we get to have them in Santa Fe for a few days. Our youngest, Sarah, is here now with her two toddlers. That is exciting for Grandma and Grandpa, but it also is a reminder why young people are parents and old people are grandparents.

Sarah and her husband, Evan, are chefs. They have fallen into the occupational hazard of those who cook for a living: they taste – and taste – and taste. Over the years they have added a few pounds along with – for Sarah – the weight gain of motherhood. As a result, they have gone on a very strict diet and exercise regimen prescribed by a no-nonsense personal trainer.

Before her arrival, Sarah announce that there would not be the usual eating out that seems to be part of the visiting tradition. I was disappointed about that, because there are several new restaurants in town worthy of a visit. The other restriction was that home meals should be high protein/low carbohydrate. How to deal with that? No pasta; no red and green chile enchiladas; no pies or cakes. I decided that a simple resolution, at least for the meal the evening of their arrival, was salade Niçoise. I know – what about the potato salad? No problem. That becomes a personal option.

Sarah signed off on the suggestion, and so that’s what we had. I bought some beautiful raw ahi tuna at the store which I seared to keep the lovely pink inside. There were haricots verts at the farmers market and Kalamata olives from the Cheesemongers of Santa Fe. Everything else I found in the pantry or refrigerator, so it was just a matter of cooking and blanching the beans, hard boiling the eggs, and assembling everything right before we ate. That gave us time to enjoy the beautiful sunset. A good ending to a tiring day for Sarah shepherding two toddlers on a flight that wound up sitting on the tarmac for thirty minutes after arrival, waiting for a gate to open.

RECIPE

Salade Niçoise

Ingredients

butter lettuce, washed and spun dry
potato salad – your favorite recipe
ahi tuna, sautéed and sliced thinly across the grain
anchovies packed in oil, drained
haricots verts, boiled and blanched
hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
tomatoes, quartered
kalamata olives
vinaigrette

Method

Arrange the lettuce leaves around the edge of a large serving bowl
Heap the potato salad in the middle
Arrange the other ingredients on top of the potato salad
Dress with vinaigrette and serve.

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Tagged as ahi tuna, anchovies, Evan Rich, haricots verts, kalamata olives, potato salad, salade Niçoise, Sarah Rich, vinaigrette

June 1, 2015 · 8:07 am

FARMERS MARKET IN SANTA FE

After a chilly and wet few weeks, the spring growing season in the Santa Fe area has finally taken off, and the farmers market has moved outside from the pavilion where it is located during the winter. For the past couple of weeks, the offerings have been largely restricted to greens, eggs, bedding plants, and a few radishes. Today, the bounty of the season is beginning to come in, and I felt a little like the proverbial kid in the candy store. I arrived early in the morning, just as the sun was slipping above the roofs, and before the vendors had finished setting up their booths. I took the opportunity to stroll around to look at the offerings and to watch the vendors before they got too busy. I saw one of my old farmers market friends, a woman about my age who had moved from Ruston, Louisiana. Over the years we have traded Louisiana stories. She specializes in garlic. She doesn’t have scapes yet, but I will definitely get some green garlic to make soup.

Farmers Market at the Santa Fe Railyard

Vendors arriving just as the sun comes over the roof

Getting the booth ready with the sign

Growing food with altitude

A colorful array of fresh vegetables

Early shoppers

The stall at the head of the aisle had every salad green imaginable on display. When the crowds come, they always have a long line of eager customers. During my stroll, the farmer across the aisle came over to announce that there were new rules that prohibited more than four customers in line at any one time. Everyone had a good laugh. There were baked goods galore, and they all looked delicious. But I was on a mission and also a diet, so I was able to resist them. Inside the pavilion, the usual dairies were selling all sorts of varieties of cow and goat cheese. Nearby, the mushroom lady was filling baskets with shiitakes and oysters.

Onions

Flatbread

Eggs of many colors

Bounty

Mushrooms by the mushroom lady

French breakfast radishes

Seedlings

A colorful array of fresh vegetables

As the stalls opened for business, I made my purchases. Honestly, I had to resist some impulse buys. I always wind up buying more than I can cook, so I tried to be judicious. When I got home, I unpacked my bag to see what I had purchased and what I needed to plan on making during the next week

A bag of good food

There was feta cheese from the Old Mill Dairy, along with shiitake and oyster mushrooms from the mushroom lady. I also found some long, slender, tender spears of green asparagus, fingerling potatoes, and organic ground beef. The mushrooms seem to beg for a creamy risotto.

My purchases

Of course, there was an abundance of radishes and other root vegetables. I wound up buying some French breakfast radishes. I plan to have those this evening with salt and thick chunks of bread spread with cultured butter from Sarah.

French breakfast radishes, cultured butter, salt, and crusty bread

As for the other stuff, I’ll just have to think of what to do with it. After all, I have another week before I head back to the market.

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Tagged as cultured butter, farmers market, French breakfast radishes, mushrooms, Rich Table, Santa Fe, Sarah Rich

May 6, 2015 · 7:20 pm

OCTAVIA

When we’re in San Francisco, Sarah always suggests restaurants for us to try. There are so many places that one never runs out of first-time experiences, but it is always especially interesting to try out a new spot.

Sarah and Evan’s friend, Melissa Perello, has operated Frances for a number of years. When the restaurant first opened it was a sensation on the local food scene and was a nominee for James Beard Best New Restaurant. It remains a very popular place.

Now Melissa and her fiance, Robert, have embarked on a new venture, taking over the space that was once occupied by Quince when Evan worked there as chef de cuisine.

Melissa and Robert have transformed the place. It is filled with light from the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the casual tables and warm but muted colors have made the restaurant inviting and comfortable.

Sarah wanted to take me to dinner while Susan got to babysit. That turned out to be what I consider a perfect division of labor. I got to eat – which I love to do – and Susan got to mind the grandchildren – which is one of her very favorite activities.

The service was warm and welcoming. Kim, our excellent server, had made a conscious decision to move from another San Francisco standby where she had worked for nine years. She was happy with her decision. All of the other servers seemed as happy, friendly and efficient.

Of course, surroundings and service are both essential to a good experience, but in the end it is all about the food. Octavia did not disappoint.

As with so many contemporary restaurants, the Octavia menu is designed to encourage sharing of several small plates before the main course. With Sarah’s professional guidance, we chose a half dozen or so small plates to share.

First was the “Deviled Egg” with Fresno chile relish, marash pepper and spice. The quotation marks indicated it was not a real deviled egg, and that was so. It was a perfectly peeled mollet egg (That is so hard to do – have you ever tried it?) topped with a spicy red chile sauce. The yolk ran out a golden yellow with my fork attack, mixing with the chiles to form a creamy sauce.

Chilled squid ink noodles with Cortez bottarga (salted fish roe), lemon oil, and green garlic came as a beautiful mound of black noodles dusted with gold. The chill took the edge off of the flavor that can sometimes doom a dish made with squid ink. The flavors of the ingredients came together. All I could think of was that I wanted more.

Mushrooms “A La Grecque” were a mix of hens of the woods, trumpets, and shiitakes in a light pickle and served with thick slabs of toasted house-made levain.

Fried artichokes were crispy on the outside and tender inside with thin shavings of Pecorino Siciliano, walnuts, and mint. If you like artichokes, you would love these.

Beef tongue with charred broccoli, toasted garlic, and marrow broth was flavorful. The tongue was so tender and well-cooked that it literally fell apart in my mouth. Some folks are squeamish about tongue, but when it is well prepared it is a great delicacy in the same way that sweetbreads are a special treat. With both, though, you should not plan on having your cholesterol measured the next day.

The salad was based on a local favorite lettuce, Little Gems, and tossed with Point Reyes blue cheese, grilled red onions, ramps (at the height of their too-short season right now) and buttermilk.

Sarah ordered the quail with morel mushrooms, spinach, and English peas. The quail was perfectly cooked, one of the best signs of an accomplished chef.

I ordered the paccheri pasta – great big rings – with olive-oil-poached bacalao (salt cod) and fennel pollen.

We ordered three different desserts. They were all delicious, but we saved them to take back to Susan, the Dessert Queen, as our thanks for being the resident baby sitter.

After dinner, Sarah had a nice visit with a well-known local restaurant reviewer and food critic and her son, a well-known Master Sommelier, who had been sitting at the next table. Chef Melissa also came out and visited with Sarah. It was a very special evening in a new San Francisco restaurant that promises to be a big success.

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Tagged as Frances, James Beard, Melissa Perello, Octavia, San Francisco, Sarah Rich

April 2, 2015 · 11:58 am

FOLLOWING FAMILY ADVENTURES

Over the years, I have often written about the food adventures of my various family members. In particular, you have read about our daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and Evan Rich, as they have gone from working in the restaurants of others to trying out a pop-up in a borrowed restaurant, Radius, in the Folsom Street area of San Francisco, to opening their own restaurant, not knowing if anyone would show up.

Since then Sarah and Evan and their restaurant, Rich Table have become successful. The restaurant is busy, and Sarah and Evan have had the opportunity to create some delicious food like their sardine chips, porcini donuts, deconstructed ice box pies, and tagliatelle with strawberry-braised pork Bolognese.

Along the way, they have been recognized by the San Francisco food scene along with Star Chefs magazine, Food and Wine, the James Beard Foundation and others. They have been invited to cook in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Shreveport, Louisiana, Mumbai, Hawaii, Mexico, and Yosemite.

If you watch Top Chef, Iron Chef, or Chopped, you know that professional cooking has become a competitive sport. Not surprisingly, Sarah and Evan are in the competition. Right now, they are competing in Food and Wine magazine’s annual competition, in contention for People’s Choice for Best New Chef, 2015. If you want to read about the contenders (or even vote) check out the web site. Voting ends April 8.

PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD – PLEASE

When our kids were growing up, I sometimes fussed at them at the dinner table, “Don’t play with your food!” That was usually when they didn’t want to eat the broccoli and so moved it back and forth on the plate.

We’ve been in the Bay Area (again) for the last several days. As usual, that has given us the opportunity to eat out a lot, as well as to do some cooking for our family. What I have taken away from all of this is that you want professional chefs to be creative while – even if the cook wants to experiment – home meals suggest not so much.

One night I made bucatini all’Amatriciana for my son’s family including 7- and 9-year old girls. The recipe was from Diane Darrow’s wonderful Italian cookbook, La Tavola Italia. I knew it was delicious because I had made it before. I also knew that the girls preferred very little to no tomato sauce, so I cut back on the tomatoes. At the same time, they both insisted that they loved pasta, so I felt reassured. When the dish arrived at the table (delicious, I might add) they both recoiled in horror. Bucatini was not pasta to them, and so they wound up eating something else.

The next experience was at a wonderful bistro, Cuisinett, in one of the towns of Silicon Valley. It is run by two French ex-pats, one of them a classically trained chef who simply grew tired of cooking in white-linen-tablecloth restaurants. The two owners take pride in offering French comfort food along with a big selection of French wines by the glass. They usually have croque monsieur on the lunch menu, but the day we visited, they did not. The waitress said that they did not have the appropriate ingredients. Instead, they had what they called a French-style grilled cheese sandwich. It turned out to be thick slices of crunchy French bread filled and topped with melted Brie. Lamb merguez on a bun was slathered with mustard. Salmon was served with a sauce Provencal. Delicious and creative! That’s what I call playing with your food.

French-style grilled cheese sandwich

Lamb merguez sandwich

Salmon with Sauce Provencal

Finally, we ate one evening at Rich Table. Everything was excellent, and everything was a play on old standards: the “carrot cake” was deconstructed and unlike any carrot cake I had ever tasted, topped with a carrot ribbon turned into fruit leather; the New York strip steak was topped with broccoli chimichurri , shaved crispy caramelized onions, and coriander flowers; their signature chocolate sable came with drops of chocolate ganache that looked like Hershey kisses; chicken liver mouse served on plancha bread with fruit preserves and micro greens did not taste like my mother’s chopped chicken livers; avocado and trout roe was delicious; sea urchin was almost too beautiful to eat. But perhaps the most creative dish was the “fish and chips”. The fish was a creamy brandade de morue made with cod and potato and seasoned beautifully. The chips were kale, but not your usual kale chips. The kale had been lightly steamed, then pureed and mixed with a tapioca binder, dehydrated on parchment, and seasoned with a dried malt-vinegar powder to capture all of the flavors of traditional English fish and chips. That I call playing with your food – all with a special outcome.

Fish and chips

Chicken liver mousse on plancha bread, fruit jam, micro greens

Sea urchin, brown rice, buttermilk

Avocado, onion jam, radishes, and trout roe

New York strip steak with broccoli chimichurri, crisp onions and coriander flowers

Deconstructed carrot cake with passion fruit

I think that all of this is well beyond my skills, but for the home cook, regular kale chips and brandade would likely be a delicious and worthwhile substitute.

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Tagged as brandade, carrot cake, Cuisinet, Dianne Darrow, Evan Rich, fish and chips, Rich Table, San Francisco, Sarah Rich

February 20, 2015 · 10:01 am

COOKING FOR THREE-YEAR-OLDS: GNOCCHI, CHICKEN, MUSHROOMS, PEPPERS, BEURRE NOISETTE

Susan and I just returned from another trip to San Francisco. We babysat our 10 months- and 3 years-old grandsons while Sarah and Evan travelled to Dallas. They were invited to cook with the staff at a hot, new Dallas restaurant, FT33. Sarah and Evan and the local chef alternated dishes for an 8-course tasting menu with wine pairings. The place was sold out, and Sarah got to see Corey and Megan, school friends of our other daughter, along with a fellow member of her crew team at the University of Texas.

My cooking task was more challenging: I was charged with feeding the two little ones. Actually, the 10-month-old was not difficult. He is still drinking a lot of liquids, and he will eat anything else you put in front of him.

The three-year-old was another story. The first morning, he wouldn’t eat his cheerios until I added some milk, so the next morning I anticipated him and poured in the milk. That morning he decided he didn’t want milk, so I had to scrap the first bowl. The next morning I made French toast with maple syrup. He didn’t like it, but the 10-month-old polished it off.

My greatest failure turned out to be lunch. I put together some things for his lunch box for nursery school. My first thought was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. What child doesn’t like PB&J? Besides, PB&J is not forbidden at his nursery school as it is in many places. As I was planning my menu, Sarah sent a text message that the toddler doesn’t like peanut butter. I made a quick change of plans and substituted some chèvre that I found in the fridge. Then, I reached for a jar of fig jam when he announced that he didn’t like jelly. For that, I substituted some hummus. I thought a goat cheese and hummus sandwich on whole wheat bread looked pretty tasty, so I packed it with freeze-dried strawberry slices, crispy apple chips, and a stick of string cheese. Imagine my disappointment when the lunch box came home at the end of the day with only the string cheese gone.

We took advantage of the kids being at nursery school by taking a little trip to the Embarcadero and enjoying a good lunch at the well-known Fog City Diner.

The iconic TransAmerica Tower and the classic Fog City Diner

The Star Princess at dockside waiting for a new group of passengers

Pigeons in front of the Exploratorium

Coit Tower

Daredevils stabilizing Telegraph Hill.

I was more successful with dinner one night. I found some packaged gnocchi and a cooked chicken breast in the refrigerator along with some mushrooms and colorful “snacking peppers”. I put it all together with some brown butter sauce, and it turned out to be a huge favorite with both kids.

RECIPE

Gnocchi, Chicken, Mushrooms, Peppers, and Beurre Noisette

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter
juice of ½ lime
½ cooked chicken breast
6 white button mushrooms, sliced
1 each, red, orange, and yellow snacking peppers, sliced crosswise
1 package prepared gnocchi
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup grated Romano cheese
salt and pepper

Method

In a small saucepan over low het, melt the butter. Heat gently until the milk solids float to the top and begin to brown. Skim off the solids with a tablespoon. Pour the melted butter into a small bowl, leaving any remaining solids on the bottom of the saucepan behind. Wipe the pan clean, return the clarified butter, and continue to heat over a low flame until it turns a nut-brown color. (hazelnut to be specific) Stir in the lime juice and set aside.
Shred the cooked chicken with two table forks. Set aside.
Sauté the sliced mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of the butter sauce over medium heat. Add the remaining butter sauce. Stir in the shredded chicken and pepper slices until heated through.
In the meantime, boil the gnocchi in a pot of boiling salted water according to package instructions. Drain. Return to the pot, and stir in the butter sauce, mushrooms, chicken, peppers, and grated cheeses. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
Serve.

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Filed under Food, Photography, Recipes, Restaurants, Travel

Tagged as beurre noisette, chicken, Dallas, Embarcadero, Evan Rich, Fog City Diner, FT33, gnocchi, hummus, Parmesan, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Romano, Sarah Rich, snacking peppers, TransAmerica Tower

January 26, 2015 · 9:20 am

THIRTY YEARS OF CHEFS’ HOLIDAYS

There’s no recipe in this post or much discussion of food. Honestly, I just wanted a chance to show some of my images from our recent visit to the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park.

Yosemite National Park is one of the true gems of the national park system in the United States. It was viewed as a treasure by the Native Americans who lived in it, and by early settlers and prospectors. Even shortly after gold rush days, there were efforts to protect Yosemite Valley. In fact, it celebrates its 125th anniversary as a national park this year. If you have visited the park, you know what a special and magical place it is (sans other tourists, if you could wish it). If you have never visited, it is a must on your list of places to visit.

El Capitan and Half Dome in the background, Yosemite National Park

Morning on the Merced River, Yosemite National Park

Upper Yosemite Falls, Yosemite National Park

The Ahwahnee Hotel, by itself, is a place that deserves its own spot on your list. The hotel was opened in 1927 at a cost approaching $2 million – a huge sum in those days. The story is that earlier lodging in the park could best be described as “rustic”. Many wealthy tourists including Lady Astor refused to visit because of the primitive conditions. For that reason the hotel was envisioned for that clientele. It was built in a grand style but in a fashion that blended into the beautiful mountain surroundings. Fearful of fires that had already destroyed more than one national park lodge, the builders used reinforced concrete stained to resemble California redwood. Even today, the eye of the visitor will be fooled by the exterior of the building.

Of course, the hotel has been modernized to remain attractive to demanding guests, but many of the original details including giant fireplaces, intricate woodwork, artwork, detailed floors, and even wooden ice chests on each guest wing have been preserved. The main dining hall is in the impressive style of many of the classic national park lodges. The food is definitely a cut above the fare in other national park lodges.

The Ahwahnee Hotel

Beautiful original woodwork near the front desk of the Ahwahnee Hotel

Fabric used in the Ahwahnee Hotel at its opening

Hand-painted ceiling and chandeliers in the main room of the Ahwahnee Hotel

The warm fireplace in the lobby of the Ahwahnee Hotel

The massive fireplace in the main hall of the Ahwahnee Hotel

The main dining room at the Ahwahnee Hotel

Windows of the main room of the Ahwahnee Hotel look out on beautiful mountain scenes including Half Dome

Most agree that the best time for a visit to Yosemite and the Ahwahnee is in the spring when the many waterfalls are at full flow. Next-best may be the autumn with colorful foliage and Indian Summer weather. Summer is beautiful with the only downside being the wall-to-wall humans.

Winter is clearly the low season. Snows can be fierce, and more than one visitor has gotten lost and frozen during an ill-conceived hike. The plus side is that there are many fewer visitors. That has posed a problem for the famous Ahwahnee Hotel. Unlike many of the grand old hotels of the national parks, the Ahwahnee stays open all winter, so it needs to attract as many guests as possible. They do that with various special activities.

The Bracebridge Dinner is a tradition that goes back to the first year that the hotel was opened. The dinner is a festive occasion with English period costumes, entertainments, and foods. It is extremely popular and becomes oversubscribed very early.

The Vintners’ Holiday is a gathering of thirty or more California vintners and guests who talk about things wine-related and wind up with a festive dinner complete with carefully paired wines.

For the past 30 years, the hotel has been sponsoring its Chefs’ Holiday. There are back-to-back sessions that run through January and early February. This year, there will be a delay of a few hours on Super Bowl Sunday so that football fans/food enthusiasts will not need to miss either event.

The Chefs’ Holiday attracts many well-known chefs and food writers, predominantly from California, but actually from all around. This is the second year for Sarah and Evan, but other chefs and writers include Kent Rathbun from Abacus in Dallas, Nancy Silverton and Mary Sue Milliken from Los Angeles, as well as Duskie Estes, Elizabeth Faulkner, and Zoi Antonitsas of television competitive cooking fame.

Guest chefs provide a short demonstration of one of their signature dishes and then host a tasting. Each session ends with an elaborate dinner prepared by the chefs, complete with carefully paired California wines.

Sarah and Evan Rich demonstrating plancha bread, Ahwahnee Hotel

Sarah and Evan Rich in the demonstration kitchen answering a question from the audience

Plancha bread with roasted cauliflower and crispy shallots – demonstration

A participant memorializing the demonstration of plancha bread

Participants sampling offerings from the cooking demonstration, Ahwahnee Hotel

It is fair to say that the Ahwahnee staff is doing their part to assure a successful winter season in Yosemite.

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Tagged as Ahwahnee Hotel, Bracebridge Dinner, Chefs' Holidays, Evan Rich, national park, Sarah Rich, Vintner's Holiday, Yosemite, Yosemite National Park

January 17, 2015 · 5:21 pm

ANOTHER YEAR IN YOSEMITE – PLANCHA BREAD

It has been nearly a year since I last reported from Yosemite. Sarah and Evan have been invited again to demonstrate the preparation of one of their dishes and to prepare a dinner at the Ahwahnee Hotel.

The Ahwahnee Hotel

The main diniing room at the Ahwahnee

Some of the original woodwork from 1927 in the Ahwahnee lobby

A blazing fire in the lobby of the Ahwahnee Hotel

Half Dome through the window of the Great Room at the Ahwahnee

During the past year, things have changed in our family and with the park. Last year, Sarah was trying to cook while 8+ months pregnant. This year we were charged with watching a nearly four year old and a 10 month old while Sarah cooks.

The park is still suffering from the results of last summer’s fires. There are great stands of blackened tree skeletons, and huge logging trucks are pulling enormous tree trunk s down the road. The drought and warm weather have both had their impact: there is no snow, and Yosemite Falls, usually frozen by this time of year, are without ice. In the Central Valley below, the reservoirs are nearly empty. Everyone is hoping for the rains and snows that don’t appear to be coming.

Perhaps the biggest current news is the successful climb of the Dawn Wall of El Capitan by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson. Sarah and Evan’s demonstration was interrupted by the announcement, and since then the hotel has been abuzz with the news. All of the television networks appeared with cameras and had the climbers get up at 4 AM (After being on a sheer rock face for 19 days.) to give interviews for Good Morning America, Today, etc.

Today, Susan and I took a drive while Sarah, Evan, and the boys were taking a walk – the first time they have had a chance to get out of the hotel and the kitchen.

Our drive took us past El Capitan. There were still three bivouac tents hanging from the Dawn Wall, and there was a huge traffic jam of television trucks in the meadow where Caldwell and Jorgeson were giving yet more interviews. Then we drove past Bridal Veil Falls to the Tunnel View Point to get an obligate image of the whole valley including El Capitan and Bridal Veil Falls with Half Dome in the background. It is a cliché image, but it is so breathtaking that you can’t avoid it. Neither could a big crowd of people even in the middle of winter.

Upper Yosemite Falls in January

Dawn Wall of El Capitan

Yosemite Valley

Tonight, Sarah and Evan will serve a wonderful dinner to include aged duck lasagna and an almond-chocolate dessert.

here’s the menu:

Onion soup: radish and dried plum salsa verde, fried shallots
Aged duck lasagna: chickories
Bone marrow roasted cauliflower: kumquat
New York strip steak: lemon verbena curry, pommes fondant
Bittersweet chocolate ganache: marshmallow fluff, citrus

But I thought I would share recipes from their demonstration:

The demonstration

Sarah and Evan displaying their plancha bread and dips

Plancha bread with roasted cauliflower dip and caramelized shallot

Shelling bean dip with radishes and chives

RECIPES

Rich Table Plancha Bread

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups water
2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast
1 teaspoon honey
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup bread flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons Sevillano olive oil

Method

Mix together the water, yeast, honey, and olive oil.
Add flour and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the dough hook, add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix to form a ball.
Keep the dough in the mixing bowl and wrap the whole thing with plastic wrap. Let dough proof in a warm area of the kitchen for one hour.
Once the dough has proofed, divide it into 70 g balls. Roll each ball out into an oblong about 1/4 inch thick.
On a griddle or large cast iron pan heated to medium-high and seasoned with oil, sear each flat bread, cooking and browning on both sides.

Roasted Baby Cauliflower Dip

Ingredients

1 head baby cauliflower
3 tablespoons butter, browned and reserved
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt to taste

Method

Clean cauliflower to remove most of the greens leaves and stem. Cut in half.
Blanch cauliflower in boiling salted water until jus tender
Sear the blanched cauliflower on a griddle or heavy cast iron pan until golden. Then bake in a 350 degree F oven until tender.
Season cauliflower with lemon juice, brown butter, and salt. Puree if desired or serve as is.

Shelling Bean Dip

Ingredients

1 pound fresh cranberry beans
2 bay leaves
3-4 tablespoons pure olive oil
salt to taste
1 teaspoon Douglas fir powder
1 teaspoon fennel pollen

Method

Cook cranberry beans in water with bay leaves until soft. Strain beans and reserve the cooking water
In a mixing bowl, season the beans with pure olive oil (e.g. Mission Trail from Sciabica), some of the reserved cooking water, salt, Douglas fir powder, and fennel pollen.
Using a fork, mash everything together until the desired texture is reached. The puree should be as smooth as hummus.

Note: With both dips, you can spread them on pieces of reheated plancha bread and garnish with tiny cauliflower florets or thinly sliced radishes and caramelized finely sliced shallot.

THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS

Well, Thanksgiving is over, and it often has the same feeling: too much food and too much stress. Rich Table was closed, so our family, Sarah, Evan and their boys and Peter, Rene and their girls, took over the place. Sarah had planned to do the cooking, but because of the baby’s three-day illness and her being up for three straight nights, Evan took over. That was a busman’s holiday for sure.

I had baked rolls for the occasion in Sarah’s kitchen, including Sibella’s recipe from her blog. They turned out ok though not as beautiful as hers, but they were done in when Sarah forgot them in the oven while reheating them. They were sort-of edible cinders. Rene brought kale chips and stuffed mushrooms, and Evan made tacos from the turkey legs along with the usuals, including three kinds of cranberry sauce, as if one is not enough. A pastry-chef friend, Bill Corbett, sent a spectacular pecan tart.

There was a play about pilgrims performed by the little ones, and then everyone pitched in to leave the restaurant as clean as we found it.

Apologies for the images. They are shakier than usual, but I had to give you an idea of the cinders and the spread.