Jakob's Bowl

Summer Sipping: Hard To Find Italian Whites

This summer I’m concentrating on the “small” white varietals from Italy, the indigenous, the almost forgotten, and even widely planted average grapes that turn into superstars in one or two small locales. My growing “To Drink” list currently includes: Petite Arvine from Valle D’Aosta; Timorasso, Nascetta, and Erbaluce Caluso from Piemonte; Pigato from Liguria; Ribolla Gialla and Picolit from Friuli-Venezia Giulia; Nosiola from Trentino-Alto Adige; Turbiano and Garganega from Veneto; Carricante, Catarratto Bianco Lucido, Grecanico, and Grillo from Sicily. That’s more than a baker’s dozen, and I hope to sip at least two thirds of the list by the next Equinox. I’ve just picked up a bottle of Nascetta from Elvio Cogno in Langhe, so I’m off and sipping.

Say, Cheese: Two Spring Finds

I am very excited about these two cheeses, since they were totally unexpected, and if they hadn’t literally been shoved into my face about a month ago, I would have never have given either of them a thought. Both are farmstead cheeses, Sunset Bay made from goats’ milk by River’s Edge Chèvre on Three Ring Farm in Oregon and Ladysmith made from organic cows’ milk by Samish Bay Cheese on Rootabaga Country Farm in Washington. The silliest part is that I’ve known about these cheese makers for a while. Last year I bought River’s Edge Fresh Chèvre for about three months until my local supply dried up, and Samish Bay Cheese has a booth at several Seattle Farmer’s Markets. In my defense though, Sunset Bay never makes it to Seattle, and Ladysmith is a relatively new cheese - in the past all I noticed in the Samish Bay booth were wedges of cheese, vacuum-packed in plastic. After I tasted these cheeses at Steve’s Cheese in Portland, I searched for them in Seattle. No luck on the Sunset Bay, but Samish offers Ladysmith at the Farmers’ Markets, and they cut it to order!!!

Sunset Bay was a complete surprise, and I almost turned down Steve’s taste. Bloomy rind goat cheeses are not high on my list although I do love fresh Chèvre, wash rind, and hard goat cheeses. As Steve described the layer of smoked paprika, I gave it two more strikes - flavoring a cheese was bad enough, but flavoring an American cheese with a smoked red pepper from Spain! He echoed my sentiments, but pressed me to taste. Wow, it all worked. Pat Morford raises Alpine goats on her farm in Oregon’s Central Coast Range. She sandwiches a layer of smoked Pimenton between layers of her creamy Chèvre, and then coats the whole wheel with ash. It’s hard for me to decide whether I like it more when the paste is still young and firm, or when it’s more mature and runny. The light saltiness of the ash and the sweet, light smokiness of the Pimenton add amazing counterpoints to the creamy paste with its lightly piquant finish. It’s the first thing I think of for my morning toast, when I have it in the fridge. It’s especially good with medium bodied white wines like dry Semillon or Pinot Blanc.

Ladysmith was an easier sell, especially when Steve showed it to me and said it was a “fresh cheese.” Suzanne and Roger Wechsler keep a mixed herd of Jersey, Shorthorn, and Dutch Belted cows on their organic farm in the Skagit Valley north of Seattle. They started selling the fresh cheese at the end of last year, and I’m really sorry I missed the introduction. The delightful aroma of tangy, cultured butter caught me by surprise as I raised the piece to my mouth. The spreadable cheese had a tangy, fresh milk burst on my tongue, with a hint of sweetness before its long, lingering finish. It was creamy but also strikingly refreshing. Its flavor and tanginess brought to mind the center of a freshly made ball of buffalo mozzarella, and I just can’t wait for tomato season to arrive to test out my theory with a salad of heirloom tomatoes, arugula, Ladysmith, olive oil, and sea salt, or maybe I'll just put the salad into a warm baguette.

Fig Anchoïade - Fig and Anchovy Spread

I was in San Luis Obispo a couple of Septembers ago for an Artisan Cheese Making Course at Cal Poly, and memories of gorging on fresh figs the previous summer in Santa Barbara, had my mouth watering over the possibilities. As I strolled the evening Farmer’s Market, farmers still had fresh figs to sell, mainly Turkish, and Mission. It was the intense flavor of some dried Black Missions, however, and a plump and pliable texture you just can’t find in stores that really grabbed me by the palate. I bought a bag for my nephew and his wife in Ventura, and one for myself. By the time I reached their home the next evening, half of my figs were gone…so addictive. After a delightful brunch the next day, I nibbled the figs on the long trip home with only an indelible memory remaining as we landed.

The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of

It seems a never ending struggle to find fresh, real chickens, preferably raised with daily access to a pasture. Most chickens raised, slaughtered, and sold in this country are the descendants of a crossbreed known as the Cornish Cross, yes even most of those that are raised and sold as “organic” and “free-range.” Developed in the late 1940s and early 1950s to eat, eat, eat and grow, grow, grow, it is particularly adept at quickly converting feed into muscle - today the standard industrial Cornish Cross can attain a five pound dressed weight in just six weeks. Many of the still common breeds back then, today’s heritage breeds, required 16 to 20 weeks or longer in the pasture to mature. Unfortunately, the Cornish’s internal organs and bones can’t quite keep up with this pace of growth resulting in many problems including the inability to walk since their legs often cannot support their bulk. Additionally, the flavor and texture of their meat do not develop to the same extent as a bird that takes 12, 16, or 20 weeks to mature. (The image to the left is an industrial Cornish Cross that has developed leg problems. Photo by Pamela Marshall, posted on www.feathersite.com.)

Beware of Food Scientists Bearing Gifts

I’ll bet you thought that a well made durum semolina pasta would be a good source of nutrition, including dietary fiber; well, so did I until this morning. The Science & Nutrition news feed, Fibre-enriched pasta beats tradition in taste test, greeted me over coffee, and it may prove that pasta really wasn’t nutritious enough after all! Food Scientists in Mexico have recently published interim results of an ongoing study including:

The addition of banana flour to spaghetti without detriment of consumer preference is possible…

It seems as if they added varying proportions of unripe banana flour - up to 45% - to durum semolina flour to produce a more “functional” pasta. A number of the pasta’s characteristics were affected, but

Consumer testing revealed no significant differences in preference between the control and the banana-flour enriched pasta.

“Then why bother,” I thought, but reading further I found:

The addition of tomato sauce increased the acceptability of the (enriched) spaghetti;

Apparently this was especially the case with both 30% and 45% unripe banana flour added. "Most excellent," I thought, my mouth watering at the possibilities. But I still wasn’t sure of the benefits of the enriched pasta? Well, apparently unripe banana flour contains antioxidants, and more importantly, it's loaded with Resistant Starch (RS), which acts like Dietary Fiber, and you know how good that is for you. Plus, it’s ALL NATURAL. I guess more is better!

While I need to mull over the new savory possibilities, I can just see a whole host dessert applications. I assume that once perfected, they will be offering a pasta flour enriched with 45% unripe banana flour, to which I could add some cocoa powder and create a Chocolate Banana Tagliatelle with my hand-crank pasta machine. I could top it with a scoop, or two, of freshly made Vanilla Bean Gelato from my local Artisan Gelato Maker - asking him to add a little extra of his ALL NATURAL emulsifier, Guar Gum, which also acts as Dietary Fiber.  I would finish with a sprinkle of chopped, high fiber Green Gage plums and call it Tagliatelle alla Banana Split. This perfect, savory pasta look alike will make quick work of any big meal that precedes it, if you know what I mean. Just think, no more Prunes Stewed in Armagnac.  Let’s here it for our newest functional food:

Yes, we have no Bananas,
We’ve made them into Pasta today!

How Many Bulbs Does It Take To Change A Vampyre?

I’ve been buying eggs and organic vegetables at the Ballard Farmers’ Market from Marie Oliver and her mother Arlene Long for over six years. They grow some amazing things at Anselmo’s Organic Farms in Snohomish, WA, and their pickles, carrots, tomatoes, and greens among other things have had me queuing up 30 to 40 minutes before the market opens every Sunday. They are especially known though for their organic garlic, as many fifty seven varieties in a good year.

After working my way through the all-too-short green garlic season, and a month or so fresh garlic, with its difficult to peel, but relatively mild cloves, I was delighted to see Marie creating a tall pile of their first dried organic garlic of the season this past Sunday - the stems aren’t cut off until the garlic has completed drying. The Chinese Purple, with its vivid purple striping on a bright white background, is usually the first to ripen every year, and that’s the variety they started drying two weeks ago. The outer skin and clove covers are dried - with the flavor continuing to develop - to permit the typical elongated storage time for most garlic bulbs. (Click the image to enlarge it.)