Food, Wine and Travel ... With Recipes: TableConversation.com

This Showgirl Cooks up a Storm

Tina Martini swoops onto the stage like a Las Vegas showgirl. Only she's modestly covered by a blue uniform. And she doesn't dance. She cooks.

"Martini Time with Chef Tina Martini" is the newest show at M Resort Spa Casino in Las Vegas. Martini performs in what looks like a TV food show studio, complete  with cameras, lights and top of the line appliances and utensils.

Comfortable theater seats face a counter with a place setting for each person. This is the best part of the show, eating what Martini cooks. And she cooks with a vengeance. Her non-stop high energy spiel gets her through a lot of dishes in an hour. And when she's done, she swoops back where she came from.

But the show isn't over. A ticket includes a reserved seat for M's lunch or dinner buffet, depending upon show time. And it's a good buffet, judging by the dessert section, which is all that I had time to explore.

The show, with a rotating variety of topics, takes place three times a day Sunday through Thursday. For more information, go to www.themresort.com.

From the performance that I saw, here is the perfect dessert for Valentine's Day, a cheesecake that is as light as it is rich, with a pistachio biscotti crust and lots of pretty berry sauce.

HONEY RICOTTA CHEESECAKE
From Chef Tina Martini

The Cheesecake
8 ounces pistachio biscotti
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 (12-ounce) container fresh whole milk ricotta, drained
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup orange blossom or clover honey
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
4 eggs

Raspberry Sauce
1 pint raspberries
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Additional berries for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Wrap the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with 2 layers of heavy-duty foil.

Place the biscotti in a food processor and grind to fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and process until the crumbs are moistened.

Press the crumb mixture over the bottom of the prepared pan but not the sides. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Place the pan on a rack to cool completely.

Clean the food processor. Add the ricotta and process until smooth. Add the cream cheese and sugar and blend well, stopping the machine occasionally and scraping down the sides of the work bowl.

Blend in the honey and orange zest. Add the eggs and pulse just until blended.

Pour the cheese mixture over the cooled crust and smooth with the back of a moistened spoon.

Place the springform pan in a large roasting pan. Bring the foil slightly above the sides to protect the filling.  Add hot water to come half way up the sides. Bake until the cake is golden and the center moves slightly when the pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour 5 minutes. 

Transfer the cake to a rack and cool 1 hour. Refrigerate until cold, at least 8 hours and up to 2 days. Cut into wedges and serve with raspberry sauce.

To make the sauce, combine the raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in the food processor and process until smooth. Strain through a mesh strainer to remove the seeds.

Spoon the sauce over each slice, adding additional berries such as blueberries, blackberries and raspberries to the sauce if desired.

Makes 12 to 16 servings. 

Great Shrimp from the Grill

Put these shrimp on the barbie, and you'll put them there again and again.

The recipe is from my friend and former colleague in the food section of the Los Angeles Times, Mary Ellen Rae.

Mary Ellen is now giving cooking classes, catering parties and private cheffing through her company, Personal Touch Gourmet.

The shrimp are one of her most popular party appetizers. (I tasted them at a holiday party at her home and couldn't get them out of my mind, they were so good.)

Infused with lemony flavors associated with Thai and Indonesian cooking, they also taste of fresh dill, a seasoning from another part of the globe.

The recipe is really convenient. Part of the marinade seasons the shrimp. The rest becomes a dipping sauce. 

If you're not an outdoor cook, you can grill the shrimp with equal success on a stovetop grill pan (that's what I do). Skewer them on decorative bamboo picks for a party appetizer, or serve them over fragrant jasmine rice at a summer buffet.

For more information about Mary Ellen's classes, go to http://www.personaltouchgourmet.net.

LEMONGRASS AND DILL GRILLED SHRIMP
(From Mary Ellen Rae of Personal Touch Gourmet)

1 pound shrimp (21 to 24 to a pound)
3 lemongrass stalks
1/3 cup chopped dill
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
1/2 cup canola oil

Preheat the barbecue grill.

Peel and devein the shrimp.

Remove the tough outer leaves of each lemongrass stalk and trim the stem end. Finely dice the bottom 4 inches of each stalk. Discard the leafy tops.

Place the lemongrass, dill, garlic, shallot, salt and rice vinegar in a blender or food processor.

While the machine is running, slowly drizzle in the oil. Blend until smooth. Add more salt if wanted.

Reserve half of the marinade to use as a dipping sauce. Coat the shrimp with the remaining marinade and set aside for 15 minutes.

The shrimp can also be prepared in advance and marinated in the refrigerator. In this case, remove them from the refrigerator and let them stand at room temperature 20 to 30 minutes before grilling.

Grill the shrimp 2 to 3 minutes on each side or just until no longer translucent in the center.

Serve on bamboo picks with the dipping sauce.

Makes 8 appetizer servings.

Reustle: Wine, Food and Prayer

There is much that is spectacular about Reustle-Prayer Rock Vineyards.

The wines, of course, and the extravagant new wine cave fitted out with chandeliers, painted ceilings a la Sistine Chapel, angels carved in the walls and Bible sayings on the floor. And dinners that must be remarkable, judging by the one Reustle recipe that I have been able to obtain. 

This relatively new winery in Southern Oregon's Umpqua Valley--it opened in 2006--has an ambitious goal.

"I'm only going to make world class wine," insists Steve Reustle, who founded the winery with his wife, Gloria. "Our passion is wine," he says. "Our other passion is agriculture."

After a career in marketing, Steve Reustle became a self-taught, hands-on winemaker. Gloria conducts structured wine tastings paired with food and cooks dishes from her native Puerto Rico for winemaker dinners.

Yes, there is a Prayer Rock in a vineyard, and  it  is used for that purpose. The Reustles are members of the North Roseburg Evangelical Free Church.  Church volunteers handle the harvest. What they would have been paid goes to mission work in Romania.

Reustle's unique wine is Gruner Veltliner, a varietal that Steve admired in Austria, determined to make it himself and became the first in the United States to do so.  

The first vintage was 2005. The 2008 Gruner Veltliner will be released at the end of February, 2009. Almost dry, with undertones of citrus and other fruits and a long finish, it is "a great food wine," Gloria says, with enough character to stand out even if one drinks it after a red wine.

Dropping into the tasting room last October, I signed up with other visitors to sample five wines snd three appetizers. Since then, the tasting room has moved into the wine cave. Tastings are $10 and now include four wines and three food pairings. 

My tasting started with a palate cleanser, the dry 2007 Riesling, 

Next came the 2007 New Zealand style Sauvignon Blanc, which emphasizes fruitiness rather than grassy, vegetative flavors. Sprightly acidity makes it a good companion to spicy food, and so we were served chicken flautas.

Avocado-topped crostini, spread with goat cheese and seasoned with olive oil and black pepper, came with the 2006 Pinot Noir. "We disagree that this is not an area for Pinot," Gloria says.

She poured a luscious 2006 Syrah next, followed by the 2006 Tempranillo, with which we ate thin slices of Pecorino Romano cheese coated with honey and pepper.

These were simple accompaniments, but Gloria's Puerto Rican Garlic-Roasted Chicken blends rich, complex flavors and makes a handsome dinner party dish

A key ingredient is adobo seasoning, which is not a liquid marinade but a powdered mixture of salt, garlic, oregano, pepper and turmeric. It is available in markets that carry Latin American products.

The chicken cooks on a bed of vegetables until so tender the meat falls away from the bone, so it isn't something that you can carve at the table, 

Arranged on a platter, with roasted sweet potatoes around it and the zesty tomato-red vegetable mixture from the pan on top, it is as delicious as it is spectacular,

PUERTO RICAN GARLIC-ROASTED CHICKEN
From Gloria Reustle of Reustle-Prayer Rock Vineyards

1 large (5.5-pound) chicken
½ pound carrots, sliced
½ pound mushrooms
1 (8-ounce) jar sliced sundried tomatoes
1 large sweet onion, cut into 1-inch wedges
1 tablespoon adobo seasoning (Goya brand)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
½ large lemon
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 head garlic
6 sweet potatoes

Use a large roasting pan with a lid, such as a turkey roaster, for this dish.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Remove the neck and internal organs from the chicken. Wash the chicken with cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

Arrange the sliced carrots, whole mushrooms, drained tomatoes and onion in the bottom of the roasting pan to make a bed for the chicken.

Season the chicken cavity with 1½ teaspoons adobo seasoning and the 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning.

Squeeze the juice from the lemon half. There should be at least ¼ cup. Spoon 3 tablespoons lemon juice into the chicken cavity, keeping the chicken tilted so that it does not run out.

Spoon in 1½ tablespoons olive oil. Push the squeezed lemon half into the cavity.

Cut off the top of the head of garlic and place the whole head in the cavity. Tie the chicken legs together with cooking twine to keep the stuffing in place.

Place the chicken breast down on the bed of vegetables. Pour the remainder of the lemon juice and 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil over the chicken. Sprinkle with the remaining 1½ teaspoons adobo seasoning.

Cover and bake 2 hours.

Meanwhile, peel the sweet potatoes and place in a bowl of cold water.

After 2 hours, uncover the chicken and place the drained sweet potatoes around it. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Turn the potatoes over. Do not turn the chicken over. It roasts breast down to keep the meat moist.  Raise the heat to 450 degrees and bake 15 to 20 minutes to concentrate the juices in the pan.

Carefully remove the chicken to a cutting board. With 2 forks, pull off the meat, discarding the bones. Place the chicken on a serving platter. Arrange the sweet potatoes around it and spoon the vegetables in the pan over it.

Makes 6 servings.

 

Have a Cuppa Cranberries

I mean cranberry tea. Not cranberry-flavored tea leaves but hot tea brewed from fresh berries. Spiced with cloves, it will be wonderful for the holidays.

I tasted this beautiful red drink at a lunch in Bandon, Oregon, a coastal town where cranberries and many other delicious things grow in abundance. 

The lunch, which took place in a glassed-in picnic shelter by Bandon's crab dock, offered a wondrous glimpse into a way of life where people don't go to the market to buy crab or salmon, they fish it themselves. Where wild mushrooms that cost a fortune in big cities are free for the taking. Where berries don't come in little green plastic containers but in whatever basket you grab to go picking. 

Richard Iverson, owner/chef of Lord Bennett's Restaurant and Lounge in Bandon, did the cooking. 

A lot of chefs talk about fresh ingredients, but Iverson sources and harvests many of them himself, like the marinated wild mushrooms that he prepared for the lunch. His own farm yielded pine mushroms and three types of chanterelles, white, yellow and black, that were bigger, meatier and almost unrecognizable compared to the mushrooms most of us eat.  

His shrimp platter with cocktail sauce was nothing like the usual watery, over-refrigerated shrimp platters that show up at cocktail parties.  Iverson used tender, sweet, locally-caught spot prawns. I have never tasted prawns that fresh and good.

Dungeness crab appeared in curried crab salad sandwiches on onion-dill bread baked at the restaurant.

Fresh-picked berries went into the dessert, a brioche cranberry custard tart with wild huckleberry topping. The recipe was developed by Iverson and Lord Bennett's pastry chef, Rosie Brookshier.

The cranberries came from a bog farmed by Iverson's wife, Bonnie. They were ground, soaked in raspberry liqueur for five days, cooked, sweetened and added to the custard.  Iverson picked the huckleberries for the topping. And both of them squeezed apples to make fresh cider for the lunch. 

Bandon is a quiet town with only 3,000 inhabitants, oriented toward fishing and tourism, and proud that it is the cranberry capital of the West. Gift shops with Oregon products line the streets by the boardwalk, a pleasant place to lounge in good weather.

Someday I hope to eat at Lord Bennett's. The dining room has a magnificent view of the ocean, and the menu offers Bandon shrimp dishes, crab cakes, crab salad and other local specialties.

Meanwhile, I'm making cranberry tea from Bonnie Iverson's recipe. 

Lord Bennett's Restaurant and Lounge is located at 1695 Beach Loop Drive, Bandon-by-the-Sea, OR  97411. Tel: (541) 347-3663. 

BANDON CRANBERRY TEA
Bonnie Iverson

3 cups cranberries
1 quart plus 1 cup water
½ cup strained fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ cup sugar
15 whole cloves

Combine the cranberries and 1 quart water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until all the cranberries have popped. Strain the liquid into a bowl. Discard the berries. Add the orange and lemon juices.

Combine the sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan. Heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cloves and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and let stand 15 minutes to infuse. Strain the syrup into the cranberry mixture and stir.  Serve hot.

Makes 6 servings.

Happy Pumpkin Day

There are lots of ways to celebrate Halloween, from choosing jack-o'-lanterns and costumes to eating soup from a pumpkin.

I did all of this on my recent trip to Oregon, plus a few extras, like wandering through dried corn plants in a  twisty maze and disappearing in another maze of towering sunflower plants.

It was my luck to be there for a harvest festival at Pheasant Fields Farm outside Medford. The afternoon was sunny and warm (I thought it rained all the time in Oregon, but that is not so).

Kids ran through pumpkin patches and laughed at monstrous odd shapes that would never make it to a supermarket pumpkin bin.

They buried themselved in a giant haystack set up for leaping and sliding, talked to farm animals, took the wheel of a vintage tractor and begged to go on pony rides and hay rides.

A country store offered local produce, and “Grandma’s Country Kitchen” dispensed cider, caramel apples and popcorn.

Grandma didn’t make the soup, though.  That was prepared by Dale Fowler, excecutive chef of the Rogue Regency Inn & Suites in Medford for a winemaker dinner at Harry & David. the store with the dazzling holiday catalog. (Mine arrived the other day, and I’m salivating over photos of delicious Royal Riviera pears and chocolate truffles.)

Harry & David’s huge store in Medford was outfitted for Halloween with stacks of pumpkins outside and pumpkin-shaped candies inside.

Mini-pumpkins served as bowls for  Fowler’s creamy, spicy-scented squash bisque, and pumpkin seeds floated on top.

The next course involved pumpkin too—Anderson Ranch lamb loin in a pumpkin seed crust accompanied by a salad of wild chanterelles, grape tomatoes, endive and shaved Rogue Creamery asiago cheese.

The wine that accompanied the soup was a 2005 Claret, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc from Rocky Knoll vineyard on the outskirts of Medford.  So choose a mellow red wine to go with the soup for Halloween (or Thanksgiving)  dinner.

If you can find mini pumpkins. cut off the tops, scoop out the seeds and strings and bake them until partially cooked, then reheat them before pouring in the soup. Clean and toast some of the seeds for decoration. 

And if you happen to be in Medford next fall, don’t miss the country harvest festival. It takes place on weekends for a month leading up to Halloween.

The location is Pheasant Fields  Farm, 1865 Camp Baker Road, Phoenix,  OR. Tel: (541) 535-3873.

SQUASH BISQUE IN A PUMPKIN
(From Dale Fowler, executive chef of the Rogue Regency Inn & Suites in Medford, Oregon)

3 pounds butternut squash (1 large)
1 pound acorn squash
2 carrots, about ½ pound, peeled and cut in chunks
2 stalks celery, cut in chunks
1 large onion, cut in 6 wedges
6 black peppercorns
1 small cinnamon stick
3 whole cloves
1 small piece nutmeg
1 whole star anise
1 1/2 quarts chicken stock
½ cup whipping cream
1 ½ teaspoons salt, or to taste
¼ teaspoon white pepper
Crème fraiche and toasted pumpkin seeds for garnish

To make the squash easier to peel, pierce them all over with a sharp knife, then microwave them one at a time until slightly softened. This will take up to 10 minutes depending upon the size of the squash. If microwaved too long, they will become soft and difficult to peel.

Let the squash stand until cool enough to handle, then peel, cut in half, scoop out the seeds and strings and cut them into chunks.

 Place the squash chunks in a stock pot or large Dutch oven. Add the carrots, celery and onion.

Wrap the peppercorns, cinnamon stick, cloves, nutmeg and star anise in a double thickness of cheesecloth to make a sachet and tie securely with string.  Or put the spices in a teaball, as I did, cracking the cinnamon stick into smaller pieces so that it fits.

Add the chicken stock to the pot and bury the spice bag in the center. Bring to a boil, then boil gently, loosely covered, until the vegetables are very tender, 30 to 35 minutes.

Remove the spice container. Blend the soup in batches in a blender. Or puree it in the pot using a hand blender.  Stir in the whipping cream, salt and pepper.

Serve in prepared mini pumpkins or in heated soup bowls, topped with a spoonful of crème fraiche and a few toasted pumpkin seeds.

Makes 3 quarts plus 1 cup, or 12 servings. 

The One and Only Hommos

"There is only one hommos in our opinion,” says Grace Abi-Najm Shea of the family-owned Lebanese Taverna Restaurants on the East Coast.

I would agree, after hearing friends rave about that hommos at a party in Los Angeles.

How did it get there? I made it, thanks to a cooking class at the Lebanese Taverna in Tysons Galleria in McLean, Virginia.

Garlicky, lemony and creamy, this garbanzo bean dip is as addictive as anything can be. No wonder it has become a signature dish for the chain, which has restaurants, cafes and markets in Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C.

At my class, chef Mohamad Abdallah revealed the tricks that make the dish work.

The most important is to use dried garbanzo beans. No cheating with canned beans. Just as important is to soak the beans overnight with baking soda and boil them the next day with additional baking soda.

This makes them cook so quickly you’ll be amazed. I’ve cooked other types of beans for as long as four hours, but these were done in 45 minutes.

After the beans cool, you puree them with tahini (sesame paste), garlic, salt, water and lemon juice. My aged blender was too frail for the job, so I had to scoop the mixture out and puree it little by little in a mini processor.  Therefore, it's better to use either a full-sized processor or a heavy duty blender.

Barring my struggle with the blender, this hommos (often spelled hummus)  was much easier to make than I expected.  Served with wedges of pita bread, it goes fast.

LEBANESE TAVERNA HOMMOS

1 cup dried garbanzo beans
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 cup tahini (sesame paste)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
¾ cup water, about
¾ cup lemon juice, or to taste
Olive oil, paprika and parsley for garnish

Place the garbanzo beans in a bowl. Add 3 cups water and 1 teaspoon baking soda and let stand overnight.

The next day, drain the beans and rinse with cold water. Place them in a large saucepan and add 5 cups water and ½ teaspoon baking soda.

Bring to a full boil, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the beans are very tender, about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally, and skim off excess foam as the beans cook.

Let the beans cool to room temperature, then drain. Save out a few for garnish. Place the remainder in a food processor or heavy duty blender. Add the tahini, garlic and salt and process or blend, gradually adding the water and lemon juice. Adjust the amount of lemon juice to taste, as some lemons are more acidic than others.

The final texture should be soft and creamy but not runny. If too thick, thin with a little additional water.

Turn the hommos into a shallow serving bowl. Place a generous spoonful of olive oil in the center. Decorate with the reserved beans, paprika and parlsey leaves.

Makes 1 quart, enough for 10 to 12 servings.   

Lebanese Taverna Restaurant, Tysons Galleria, 1840-G International Drive, McClean, VA 22102. Tel: (703) 847-5244.

For additional information and other locations, go to www.lebanesetaverna.com.