Posts?

Remember when I had ninjaplease.com? I do. It was a lot of fun writing that. Unfortunately, the advent of myspace and facebook, tweets, blogspot and the like, have actually demarcated a moment in time between old school bloggers and new school bloggers. Not to sound like an geezer, but I started writing ninjaplease in 1998, almost 10 years ago. It ran continuously until 2003, when I got divorced, and lost interest in posting feelings for everyone to see. The only other blog I know of that is running from that time is captainbunny.com, run by my friend Karen Lai. Strangely, when scrambler asked me to do this blog, i didn't want to. Many, many people have blogs these days. Alot. There is a bit of apathy that is magnified by the feeling of pointlessness to blogging these days. However, there are things I used to get out of it, personally. I've noticed my writing has been horrible lately. I misspell words, dyslexically type things, and feel as though my brain is in atrophy. When I was in high school, I wrote a short story about a college kid with lots of potential, who grows up and melts into normalcy. Kind of like "Flowers for Algernon", without the super sad ending and mental retardation to start. I think not having a need to write daily is fucking me up. I am very challenged in my job; it requires me think creatively, problem solve on the fly, and juggle a lot of things at once. But does the world need another blog? Can't I just write in a note book? Or is the structure of a blog a benefit to me mentally? Knowing that other people may potentially read my words carries a weight of responsibilility to grammer, feelings, structure, and tone. Does the world want to hear what I have to say? Not likely, and not in this forum. I do miss writing, or having something like this to do...First post.."How I've alienated so many friends, I don't get invited to weddings anymore!"

PS. J, Luc, Freshta...wish we were all in one spot...

New Posts!

Well, I wanted give you guys pictures of the restaurant, but the website seems to do a pretty good job of that already. They also post menus I've written and the like, so I think here I will talk about stuff that has me excited.

This Sunday, Nov 16th, I'm doing the second major wine dinner I've been involved with. The first was a 6 course meal with Robin's in Cambria, California, about 4 years ago. Now, with the weight of a glitzy restaurant behind me, we are doing a 6 course meal with spindrift cellars. Up top is a picture i converted from the pdf of my menu...so it's quality is a little suspect. If you can't read it, here's a break down: Pre-courses are two appetizers served with Spindrift's rose and pinot gris. They are home made goat's milk riccotta cheese with lemon zest on house crackers and Ian's own smoked andouille sausage with a house made massilla jam. These two apps kind of set the tone for my philospohy on cooking: that you'll get tired of seeing the word house made in the menu description. I think using high quality ingredient and dressing them up is all well and good, but it doesn't replace taking someone else's work and passing it off as your own. We can all appreciate good sausage, but try making it yourself. It's easy to pick out good cheese, but try making something yourself, so it's unique. Then I feel I'm actually offering a service to someone. The menu at Strega is entirely made in the the kitchen with our own two hands: pastas, sausages, bacons, pancettas, fries, jams, cookies, pies, cakes, sauces, etc. no bases, no outsourced desserts, no premade nonsense. Isn't that what you pay for when you go out to eat? Something you can't do at home?

Into the main meal. First course is Pinot Blanc to dirnk and to eat raw hamachi served with cucumber and tamarind vinaigrette. Second is a watercress and fall apple salad with hazel nuts and dijon creme fraiche, paired with chardonnay. Apples and chard, a classic combo. Ok, I'm still lazy at heart. Thrid is really great for fall in Oregon: home made gnocchi with duck confit and demi-glace, paired with a pinot noir. Last course is an Oregon Kobe Coulotte with fall vegetables (parsnips, celeriac, carrots) and a rich oxtail broth. and dessert, chocolate and ice cream, of course made by me. I hope people like it and I get to do many more of these. They are the most fun you can have clothed.

Strega Website is a Go

Hey guys, if you've been wondering where I've been, check out this website

www.streganw.com

More Posts Coming This Way

So 4 months ago, I opened a restaurant in Corvallis, OR. And since, I haven't had a chance to post. But I would like to get back in the habit. I've got lots to post about, and will soon add menus, recipes, and pictures from the restaurant. Here's some links to the good, bad, and ugly reviews we've gotten.

the.sickest.thing.ever

My Friends over at the AVCLUB (East Madison represent!) have taken it upon themselves to start taste testing some strange, strange items. They have handle everything bacon flavored, from bacon flavored mints and chocolate bars, to getting Patton Oswalt to taste test the KFC Snacker Bowl and all of it's layered goodness. But now they have hit an all time low. I give you, the canned cheeseburger.

Strega is a go.

So many of you know that I'm embarking into new territory as the exec chef of a swank new place in Corvallis, OR. It's the kind of restaurant that could push this sleepy, hungry college town into a new era of culinary enlightenment . . . or crash horribly to the earth. It is a Spanish inspired tapas style of restaurant, with a focus on local, sustainable food. All of our products come from a fifty mile radius, and we try our best to not fuck up the ingredients. We feature a ton of wine, backed by a cruvinet system that pressurizes the bottles with nitrogen so that we can pull a glass off the tap and preserve the wine at the same time. But enough selling of the restaurant. I'm just excited because we finally got our authorization to be in the building! Monday marks the first day that I can actually turn on a good deal of the equipment. So that's exciting. I'll be posting back here with some pictures of the space and more! Stay tuned....

CAKETOWN!

So the cake was a large success. It came out light and moist, like a good cake should. The ladies liked it to be sure, though with 3 thick layers, much of it was left behind. As Scrambler pointed out, the strawberries seem a bit watery in the picture. That's because I had to use frozen strawberries, with it being February in Oregon and all. the liquid is much more viscous that it looks, though. Thanks full the ganache proved a decent protector for the cake, with the bottom layer soaking up just enough sweetened balsamic to be pleasing, but not crazy.

I'm looking forward to sampling the deliciousness that comes out of Scrambler's casks.

I just picked up my first issue of Gastonomica at the local book store.

It's an industry magazine that publishes a wide range of articles that affect the way food goes from farm to restaurant and supermarket. Pretty insightful and cool, to be sure.

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

This cake has been floating around the Portland area for a long time. It comes from Criollo, a now defunct bakery in the Portland area that happens to have spawned every other bakery in PDX. It's a very moist and delicious cake that has a dark chocolate flavor, enhanced by the strong coffee. The use of oil allows the cake to stay moist over the course of the week. This is good, because who can eat a whole chocolate cake otherwise? I'm taking it to a birthday party for our friend Lindsay, the zoology grad student girlfriend of one of my cooks. Here's the recipe:

3 cups unbleached AP flour
2.5 cups sugar (vanilla sugar is even better)
5.5 teaspoons baking soda (1 Tbl + 1.5 tsp)
1.5 tsp salt
1 cup unsweetened chocolate powder

Preheat your oven to 350. Combine all these in a bowl by sifting them together. If you have a kitchenade or similar mixer, affix the wire whip attachment and work these dry ingredients together on the lowest speed. Allow it to aerate for 5 minutes. Then start adding the wet stuff

1.5 cups buttermilk
1.33 cups canola oil

Add these to the dry stuff slowly until it is incorporated.

3 large eggs

Add these one at a time, waiting for each to be incorporated before adding the next

1.5 cups fresh brewed, strong hot coffee
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Add the coffee in a slow stream. This is a half-assed attempt at tempering. Remember that there are uncooked egg proteins in the batter, and pouring a lot of very hot coffee will cause them to coagulate. Add the vanilla when you feel like it. Now, the batter will look like soup, until the flour has a chance to soak up the water in the coffee, so give it a good five minutes on the lowest speed. PS, there is no need to every go above "stir" on your Kitchenade. All you will do is build gluten, add unneeded air, and spackle your entire counter top with cake batter. Bake in two buttered and floured 9 inch cake round for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes clean out the center. let rest for 20 minutes before frosting, glazing or ganaching.

So I iced my cake with a simple, low fat ganache. I used:
.5 cup of fat free milk
1lb of semi sweet chocolate chips
1 T of butter (I know)
1/4 cup of sugar

Place all this in a metal bowl, and melt it over a double boiler. Stir with a wisk until smooth. Then ice that soulja boy!

That's my cake. I ended up baking mine in pie tins, for a bit of shape, instead of plain round. Also, I guess I lost my cake rounds. I also added a strawberry-balsamic compote a around the bottom. Thoughts?

Chocolate Cake

I can see the scrambler has already beat me to the punch with a post about a sacher torte. Bold move man. Apricot jam filling is a little too much for me. I tend to shy away from deserts, because having more than a tablespoon of sugar gives me the shakes. One time I ate a slice of peanut butter mousse cake and I wanted to slit my wrists to drain the sugar coursing through my veins. However, my lady and I are going to try out this buttermilk chocolate cake recipe that has been kicking around the Portland area for a long time. I'll post it here, then report back with pictures and taste results.

Bringt it!

Scrambler and Big Bowl. A little about us. Scrambler is on the East Coast, and Big Bowl, aka me, is on the West Coast. We're old friends from High School in the Mid West. Scrambler loves to cook at home and I'm a chef at a Pacific Northwest restaurant. Together, we hope to compare, sample, and destroy all food that comes into our path. Most of the time, we'll be ragging on each others food and sharing experiences we've had in the restaurant and food world. Tuck in!