Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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Included on my cookbook shelf is a small well-worn paperback copy of Elena's Secrets of Mexican Cooking by Elena Zelayeta. Originally published in 1958, this 1973 edition of the cookbook was a gift to my recently married parents from my father's sister, Vicki. The recipes inside are brief, easy to follow, and clearly designed for a mid-century American audience using mild, often canned, ingredients that were readily available in the grocery stores of the time. As an adult, my interest in the...
Every summer, without fail, I am surprised by how productive the zucchini plants are in our garden. With new zucchini sprouting up every night, there is always an abundance of the striped, green summer bounty in our kitchen. This leads to my annual exploration of creative ways to use this prolific garden ingredient. With options ranging from bread, fritters, pasta, and casseroles, the recipes, thankfully, seem endless. Last week, I looked for zucchini inspiration and found it in southern...
Living in wheat country, I feel a deep connection to the fields of grain that surround me, even though I'm not a farmer myself. The rolling hills give us a colorful reminder of the changing seasons: from vibrant spring green to the golden hues of summer. Watching the combines and grain trucks during the busy harvest season, I am always reminded that our farmers, with the help of modern machinery, are continuing an agricultural tradition started many millennia ago. According to the...
My two favorite things about summer are enjoying home-grown produce and that time of day when the sun sets, and the temperatures finally start to cool down. The back porch is my favorite setting for dining al fresco, where I can watch swallows zip across the yard as the sky erupts into electric golds and pinks. This pasta, full of my favorite summer vegetables, is creamy without being heavy, and perfect for elegant backyard entertaining. Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more 1 small...
For a brief moment, my mother worried that I was a future sociopath...at the age of four. The discovery of a notebook full of drawings featuring a giant knife wielding woman in pearls would alarm any parent. Thankfully, before seeking out a pediatric psychologist my mother caught me in front of the TV, doodling while attentively watching the great Julia Child. Before I knew how to write, drawing was my way of documenting the recipes and techniques. Realizing my PBS viewing went beyond Mr....
As a child in Los Angeles, I often spent weekends with my father who lived a block from Echo Park Lake, many years before it became the gentrified hipster neighborhood of today. We would walk around the park people watching, feeding the ducks, while searching for the perfect bench to sit and draw. As a future foodie, these visits to the park were full of gastronomic discoveries. On top of the omnipresent taco trucks parked around the perimeter, there was always an array of food carts to choose f...
Sometimes, after a long night serving $200 dinners (see my article about tasting menus on page 12) I would stop at the Aladdin Gyro-cery, in Seattle's University District, for a cheap late-night meal. Inside, the aroma of heavily spiced chicken shawarma or beef gyros, are instantly enticing, however, the menu item I've ordered the most is the falafel. Crispy on the outside, fragrant and soft inside, stuffed in fluffy pita bread with a zingy tahini sauce, these vegetarian delights always...
Having worked as a server at some of Seattle's best restaurants, I've had the honor of working for some of the finest chefs in the city. The more time you spend with great chefs, the better you become at identifying a chef's culinary signature, especially when it is your job to sell their creations. Beyond mastery of technique and selecting favorite ingredients, a good chef must develop a distinct point of view to help them stand out in a very crowded field. I am quite positive that in a...
In recent years the term farm-to-table has been overused and even parodied. As a server at some high-end farm-to-table restaurants in Seattle, there were some moments I felt as though I was living in an episode of Portlandia. However, at its core, the movement to encourage the consumption of local seasonal foods is one dear to my heart. My culinary journey has led me to seek out relationships with the makers, farmers, and producers of the ingredients I use. The more I have honored the regional...
Admittedly, behind the scenes of a perfectly styled food photo can be a little chaotic. While testing my recipe for Linguine Vongole, featured in the April 29th edition of The Times, I managed to use every single dish (and then some) at the family beach cabin. Thankfully, my aunt was more than happy to wash a few dishes in exchange for taste testing the bivalve feast....
Sometimes, on a rare day off, I am known to binge episodes of the Food Network classic, Chopped. As contestant chefs brainstorm dishes on the fly, using the surprise "basket ingredients," I play along imagining what I would create. I am often moved to shout at the screen when chefs make a doomed decision. NO, there is never enough time for risotto! This past weekend, I had my own Chopped experience when my aunt called to invite me to a family dinner. She offered wild caught Alaskan sockeye...
As we move into the summer months, my culinary inspirations become increasingly influenced by what is ready to be picked in the garden. Compared to years past, the strawberry plant that runs along the east side of our house has been extra bountiful lately. With a big bowl of perfectly ripe strawberries on hand, I set out to make a special dessert this week, researching recipes for cakes, soufflés, trifles, and crisps. Then, inspiration hit me when I remembered the robust rhubarb we have...
It's the season of backyard barbeques and neighborhood potlucks, a time when small gatherings can quickly turn into large parties. Amongst the various salads and grilled meats of your summer spreads, there is always room for a crowd pleaser casserole. And perhaps none pleases a crowd quite like the American classic, macaroni and cheese. As with any national favorite, there are countless variations and regionally specific recipes for this cheesy comfort, all of which are a million times better th...
Julia Child is famous for noting that the quality of a cook can always be judged by how well they roast a chicken. In my quest for poultry perfection, I have tried countless variations and recipes over the years. I've stuffed herbs under the skin, dry rubbed with elaborate spice blends, or simply stuck with salt and pepper. I've brined, yogurt-marinated, and wrapped in pancetta. I've meticulously followed the advice of Alice Waters, Jacques Pépin, Ina Garten, and of course Julia. With each...
In our garden, the nightshades have gone into the ground, and the countdown to tomato season has officially begun. There are few things about summer that I look forward to more than the first backyard tomato harvest. In the meantime, I will continue to make great use out of a much-loved pantry staple, canned tomatoes. From slow cooked Bolognese to zesty puttanesca, there are countless sauces that start by opening a can of perfectly ripe tomatoes. One such recipe that has garnered a cult...
Too often, uninspired versions of this dish are slapped on restaurant menus, overdressed with bland mass-produced dressing. Originally created in 1924, by an Italian immigrant at his namesake restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico, Caesar salads quickly became a hit with Hollywood trendsetters. Here, I have a lively and fresh homemade Caesar dressing that will change how you look at those that come in a bottle. Adding seasoned grilled chicken turns this into a satisfying warm-weather entrée. Ingredients:...
During my first spring living in Waitsburg, I quickly fell in love with the vibrant-green rolling hills, the abundance of flowering trees, and the discovery of what the locals simply call “salad onions.” Before moving here, I foolishly thought I knew all there was to know about Walla Walla Sweet Onions, which made my first taste of a fresh local spring sweet onion all-the-more amazing. Delicious cooked or raw and readily available at local farm stands, I look for new ways to enjoy these ear...
Truth be told, I have always been one who craves savory over sweet. So perhaps it is of little surprise that my favorite desserts are those that include ingredients which act as a counterbalance to the sweet, like chili with chocolate, sea salt with caramel, and bitter coffee with vanilla ice cream. This beautiful cake features the richness of olive oil and toasted almonds, with the brightness of lemon to balance the sweetness of dried figs. The resulting flavor plays tribute to the culinary...
As a transplant from the west side of the state, I am often overwhelmed by a strong craving for ocean air and fresh seafood. This past weekend, I made an escape to the coast to satisfy such a hankering. At Klipsan Beach, on the Long Beach Peninsula, we stay in a beloved little cabin full of family history. It's a place to slow down, listen to the waves, and for me, cook seafood feasts. On the north end of the peninsula, in a town appropriately named Oysterville, there is an amazing shellfish...
As the days are warming up and getting longer, grilling season is officially here. Concurrently, our edible garden is coming alive and ushering in the season of fresh herbs in everything we cook. We plant a lot of herbs, and we eat a lot of herbs. These chicken skewers, which make a great centerpiece to backyard entertaining, are exuberantly flavored thanks to the abundance of chopped fresh herbs. Served with a cool and zesty tzatziki sauce, this dish will transport you to an ocean-cliff villa...
While I am firmly an omnivore, there have been moments, albeit brief moments, when I have dabbled in vegetarianism. Blame it on my childhood, surrounded by West Coast hippies and artists, but I have always had a soft spot for brown rice, granola, kale, and yes, even tofu. Originating in China some 2,000 years ago, tofu, also known as bean curd, is made from soy milk and is an important part of the cuisines of East and Southeast Asia. Rich in protein, as well as plant-based calcium and...
Over the years, certain spices have become such well-loved staples in my kitchen that I have learned to make great use of buying in bulk. Housed in neatly labeled mason jars, and taking up several shelves, my collection reflects several millennia of global spice trade. Among my favorites is paprika, whose bright red color and sweet warm spice, adds a distinctive flavor to popular dishes from many cultures. Originating in central Mexico, the peppers used to make paprika made their way to Spain...
Spring is here! Birds are chirping, daffodils have finally brought some color to our garden, and fresh local asparagus will soon come into season. While I often serve asparagus simply with just a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon, I am always looking for new recipes to highlight this springtime delight. Here, I have tossed asparagus into a classic Roman pasta dish, making a decadent and quick weeknight dinner. Spaghetti alla Carbonara marries eggs, cured pork, and cheese, with plenty o...
Being the proper Anglophile that I am, my television viewing leans heavily towards programs from across the pond. A long favorite is The Great British Bake Off, which, with its charming pastoral setting and English pleasantries, feels refreshing compared to more aggressive American competition shows. Each episode provides a crash course in British culinary vocabulary and offers up endless inspiration for experimentation in the kitchen. This recipe, blending two British classics, Sticky Toffee...
Long before the current food truck craze, my earliest culinary discoveries were made as a kid in Los Angeles, sampling what was available from the city's ubiquitous taco trucks. With the variety of succulent meats, braised or chargrilled, served over soft hot tortillas, garnished simply with chopped onions and cilantro, hot sauce and lime, my love for tacos was forever cemented. Though the setup for this favorite recipe is easy, braising will take up to six hours, plan accordingly. Perfect for a...
