Best Food Writing 2014

A story written by Amy Gentry about me was selected for Best Food Writing 2014!  The story was called Seven Bald Men and a Kumquat Tree.  How fun is that!

The Curious Kumquat

Random Pics from San Francisco

Gluten Free Flatbread

This is the recipe for our gluten free/yeast free/egg free flat bread that we use for pizza and sandwich.

Oven to 450º
Place seasoned cast iron skillets in oven and pre-heat at least 30 minutes.  We use 8" round cast irons - two at a time to make a perfect personal pizza size.

1 C. each Millet and rice, soaked overnight
1 3/4 C. Water
3 T Oil
1 1/2 t Salt
1 T Sugar or honey
1 t Apple cider vinegar

Combine all in a blender and blend on high for 2 minutes.  Add herb (rosemary) if you want.

1/4 C Flax or other seed (sesame, amaranth, chia)

Add seeds to blender and blend another minute.

2 t Baking powder

Add baking powder and blend :30.  Immediately pour into hot pans and bake 15 minutes.

Korean Dishes

Recipe by request:

Korean Sauce

This sauce is the base for two of our more popular dishes.

¼ C (70 g) Korean pepper paste (Gochujang)

4 T (35 g) Sesame oil

4 T (44 g) Sugar

4 T (48 g) Water

4 T (35 g) Roasted sesame seeds

2 T (20 g) Yellow miso

6 t (30 g) Rice wine vinegar

4 Garlic cloves, peeled

Combine all of the ingredients in the blender and process til smooth.  The seeds may remain in the final sauce. Adjust to taste.

Korean braised elk shank

6 elk shank (Other shanks can be used if elk is not available)

2 C Korean sauce

Heat roasting pan on stove top while pre-heating oven to 325ºF.  Add a light coating of oil to the bottom of the pan and bring to just smoking.  Season the elk with salt and pepper.  Add the meats cut side down and sear until a nice dark brown crust forms.  Turn the meat and crust the other side.  Pour sauce over the browned meat, cover with foil, and bake in the oven for one hour.  After one hour has passed, lower the oven to 225ºF and continue baking for at least 3 hours or until the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender.  Add sauce as necessary and salt to taste.  Serve with roasted potatoes.

Korean Cauliflower Salad

2 Cauliflower heads

2 C Korean sauce

Heat oven to 375ºF.  Coat heavy duty baking sheet with cooking oil.  Cut the cauliflower in ½” slices trying your best to keep the slices intact although they will inevitably crumble.  Lay the slices single depth across the pan.  Coat with more oil – be generous not healthy!  Bake for 20 minutes.  Turn the cauliflower over (this is why we try to keep it in big pieces) and bake an additional 20 minutes.  Turn one more time and continue cooking until the cauliflower becomes dark brown.  Near the end, brush the Korean sauce generously over the cauliflower and return to the oven for 5 more minutes.  Lightly salt and serve.

Helsinki

Looks like we're heading to Finland for a few dinners sometime in December.  I'm hoping to snag tables at Studio Kitchen Tundra, Olo, and possibly something in St. Petersburg - looking for suggestions.

Elk's Blood Bonbon

It is what it says it is and its great!

Fresh Origins

As an organizer for this year's eGullet Chocolate and Confections Workshop in Vegas in May I'm starting to get samples sent to me, and every now and then one stands out as something really special to play with.

Fresh Origins sells microgreens, edible flowers, and crystalized herbs.  The fennel is knocking my socks off and I can't wait to work them into my pastry and savory dishes.  Essentially flavored sugar, the texture is light, not dense, and the flavors and colors are bright and clear.  The ingredients show them at cane sugar but I'd love to have them use isomalt and offer a less sweet version.  Either way - cool stuff.

CK

Smithsonian

Our little town was just listed as Smithsonian magazine's top 20 small towns to visit, and part of the reason was our little restaurant!  Here's the link - go to 18: Smithsonian Magazine

Curious Kumquat

James Beard Awards - Best Chef Southwest

We always dreamed of this moment but never thought it would really happen.  I mean, how can anyone find a restaurant as remote as ours.  We're 3 hours to anywhere and no airport in site.  We're not on the way to anything!

But somehow we got on the semifinalist list for Best Chef - Southwest.  Honored.  Humbled.  Proud.

Curious Kumquat

James Beard Awards

Recipe: Russian Medovic Cake

63 g                 Honey – the bolder the flavor the better

6.5 g                Baking soda

200 g               Butter flavored Crisco (haven’t tried butter yet*)

260 g               Sugar

2                      Eggs

530 g               AP Flour

In sauce pan, warm the honey and soda.  Once dissolved add the Crisco and warm til fully melted.  Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.  Transfer to the bowl of a mixer and when at room temp add eggs one at a time paddling just until incorporated.  Add the flour gradually and paddle just until homogenous.

Divide dough into seven equal portions of 160 g each, cover with saran.

On silpat or parchment, rollout each dough to desired shape (it doesn’t have to be perfect because the cake will expand as it bakes.  I did three rectangles of 4”x10” on each baking sheet.  Cover the dough with a second Silpat or parchment and set a second baking sheet on top to weigh them down – this will give you uniform flat cake layers.  Bake at 350º for about 10 minutes until lightly browned.  When all six layers are baked and cooled to room temp, bake the final dough darker than the first about 18 minutes.  Pulse that into decorative crumb.

260 g               Superfine sugar

500 g               Sour cream

Combine both in mixer and whisk on high until soft peaks.  Spread 125 g of cream mixture on each layer and top with next layer of dough, repeating until stacked finished with the cream.  Sprinkle the decorative crumbs on the top layer.  Rest all in fridge overnight to allow soaking.

*My concern with butter is that margarine or Crisco will leave the cake softer than butter, and I’m not yet sure how much soaking from the filling will effect the dough.

**My variations – a splash of vodka in the cream; fresh blueberries