Our Daily Bread

It has been a whirlwind of activity in The Trinity Alps. I’ve lost three games of petanque and six games of gin so far. I’m working on losing gracefully.

In the last couple of days, we’ve hiked to a waterfall, caught dozens of trout, read books, fought over the hammock, looked for glow worms and chased a fox in the dark.
Here’s Kathy’s report: I’ve won six games of gin and won one game of petanque. I’m working on winning gracefully.

Yesterday, Kathy baked two loaves of French bread which we enjoyed with cream cheese topped with chile raspberry jam from Santa Fe and a lovely, crisp gruner vetliner. She shares the recipe here, a wonderfully simple method. The dough comes together in the food processor and rises there for an hour. A quick shaping and baking and voila: Bread as pretty as you'd find in a bakery.

Dinner was something special. We attempted Judy Rodgers’ (of Zuni Café fame) roast chicken and bread salad. Of course we adapted the recipe for the Weber but the results were every bit as good. Even bread salad haters Mike and Juan had second helpings. Use mustard greens if you can find them. If not, a nice peppery arugula will do.



Zuni Chicken with Bread Salad (slightly modified)
2 chickens

For the bread salad: serves 2 generously
• Generous 8 ounces slightly stale open-crumbed, chewy, peasant-style bread (not sourdough)
• 6 to 8 tablespoons mild-tasting olive oil
• 1-½ tablespoons Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
• Salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried currants
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar, or as needed
• 1 tablespoon warm water
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• 2 to 3 garlic cloves, slivered
• ¼ cup slivered scallions (about 4 scallions), including a little of the green part
• 2 tablespoons lightly salted chicken stock or lightly salted water
• A few handfuls of arugula, frisee, or red mustard greens, carefully washed and dried

Directions
Seasoning the chicken (1 to 3 days before serving; for 3-¼- to 3-½-pound chickens, at least 2 days):
Remove and discard the lump of fat inside the chicken. Rinse the chicken and pat very dry inside and out. Be thorough-a wet chicken will spend too much time steaming before it begins to turn golden brown.
Approaching from the edge of the cavity, slide a finger under the skin of each of the breasts, making 2 little pockets. Now use the tip of your finger to gently loosen a pocket of skin on the outside of the thickest section of each thigh. Using your finger, shove an herb sprig into each of the 4 pockets.
Season the chicken liberally all over with salt and the pepper (we use ¾ teaspoon sea salt per pound of chicken). Season the thick sections a little more heavily than the skinny ankles and wings. Sprinkle a little of the salt just inside the cavity, on the backbone, but don’t otherwise worry about seasoning the inside. Twist and tuck the wing tips behind the shoulders. Cover loosely and refrigerate.
Starting the bread salad (up to several hours in advance):
Preheat the broiler.
Cut the bread into a couple of large chunks. Carve off all of the bottom crust and most of the top and side crust (reserve the top and side crusts to use as croûtons in salads or soups). Brush the bread allover with olive oil. Broil very briefly, to crisp and lightly color the surface. Turn the bread chunks over and crisp the other side. Trim off any badly charred tips, then tear the chunks into a combination of irregular 2- to 3-inch wads, bite-sized bits, and fat crumbs. You should get about 4 cups.
Combine about ¼ cup of the olive oil with the Champagne or white wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Toss about ¼ cup of this tart vinaigrette with the tom bread in a wide salad bowl; the bread will be unevenly dressed. Taste one of the more saturated pieces. If it is bland, add a little salt and pepper and toss again.
Place the currants in a small bowl and moisten with the red wine vinegar and warm water. Set aside.
Roasting the chicken and assembling the salad:
Prepare charcoal grill to cook chickens using indirect heat. When coals are hot place chickens end to end and cook covered about one hour and ten minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted at the thigh reads 165.
Preheat the oven to 450°.
While the chicken is roasting, place the pine nuts in a small baking dish and set in the hot oven for a minute or two, just to warm through. Add them to the bowl of bread.
Place a spoonful of the olive oil in a small skillet, add the garlic and scallions, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until softened. Don’t let them color. Scrape into the bread and fold to combine. Drain the plumped currants and fold in. Dribble the chicken stock or lightly salted water over the salad and fold again. Taste a few pieces of bread-a fairly saturated one and a dryish one. If it is bland, add salt, pepper, and/or a few drops of vinegar, then toss well. Since the basic character of bread salad depends on the bread you use, these adjustments can be essential.
Pile the bread salad in a 1-quart baking dish and tent with foil; set the salad bowl aside. Place the salad in the oven after you take the chickens off the grill giving them 10 to 15 minutes to rest.
Finishing and serving the chicken and bread salad:
Tip the bread salad into the salad bowl. (It will be steamy-hot, a mixture of soft, moist wads, crispy-on-the-outside-but-moist-in-the-middle wads, and a few downright crispy ones.) Add the greens, a drizzle of vinaigrette, and fold well. Taste again.
Cut the chicken into pieces, spread the bread salad on the warm platter, and nestle the chicken in the salad.

French Bread (from Epicurious.com)
• 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast (from a 1/4-oz package)
• 1 2/3 cups warm water (105-115°F)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• Special equipment: 2 (17-inch-long) French bread pans (preferably dark nonstick); a razor blade or very sharp knife


Pulse flour, salt, and vinegar in a food processor to combine.
Stir together yeast and 1/3 cup water in a small bowl until yeast is dissolved, then let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.) With motor running, pour yeast mixture and remaining 1 1/3 cups warm water into flour mixture in processor, blending until dough forms a ball and pulls away from side of processor bowl, about 1 minute.
Cover processor feed tube and let dough rise until it fills bowl, about 1 hour. Pulse several times to deflate dough.
Generously oil bread pans with olive oil.
Turn out dough onto a work surface and divide in half (dough will be very soft). Press 1 half into a 10- by 8-inch rectangle and fold in the 2 short outer sides to meet in the middle, pinching edges together. Turn over (seam side down), then roll and stretch into a 15-inch-long irregular loaf. Put loaf, seam side up, in bread pan and turn to coat with oil, leaving loaf seam side down.
Repeat procedure with remaining dough. Let loaves rise, uncovered, in a warm draft-free place 30 minutes.
Put oven rack in upper third of oven, then put a large roasting pan with 1 inch of water in it on bottom of gas oven or on lowest rack of electric oven. Preheat oven to 450°F.
Make 3 shallow diagonal slashes down length of each loaf with razor. Bake loaves 30 minutes, then carefully remove pan of water from oven. Remove bread from pans and turn upside down on upper oven rack, then bake until golden and crusty all over, about 5 minutes more. Cool loaves on a rack.

Trout and Transformations

After 50 weeks of waiting, disappointment begins to set in as we realize the snow capped peaks and raging rivers will mean an absence of fly fishing and swimming this year. These are our two favorite activities (after eating and drinking).

Coffee Creek is unrecognizable as is the Trinity River, both rivers suffering a late spring run off. The tardy arrival of summer means the rivers will actually rise while we’re on our annual vacation, rather than drop. The first few quickly aborted attempts to fly fish give way to crushing defeat and frustration as we watch our flies rip downstream.

On a lark we decide to check the East Fork of the Trinity River, normally a slow trickle this time of year. I remember as a child catching several large rainbows there one wet year but since then, it has never yielded much.

Juan wades across the deep and swift channel and casts his line from a little sand bar mid-stream. On the first cast, a lunker gobbles his copper beaded nymph and the tone of the trip changes.

The run, it turns out, holds untold numbers of large lake trout. They are clearly congregating there while they wait for the river to subside so that they could swim upstream to spawn. Nearly every cast gets a hit and our arms, after 6 hours of fishing, are shaking with fatigue.

Three successful mornings in this wide flat run above the lake now represent the high water mark of all our fly fishing excursions.

One large trout, pictured here, takes Juan 15 minutes to land and he gratefully accepts a hand in netting him.

Like the normally humble East Fork, sometimes ordinary things can be transformed into something magical in the blink of an eye. Take ketchup. We share a mutual distain for the condiment. Can you say B O R I N G? But two additional ingredients and 90 seconds of work give it an extreme makeover.

Our evening menu called for hamburgers and potato salad which at first blush may seem unimaginative. However the marriage of chipotles in adobo along with the lowly ketchup produces a burger topping that turns pedestrian into gourmet.





This recipe from Bon Appetite pairs burgers with sharp cheddar, balsamic grilled onions, vine ripened tomatoes, fresh spinach leaves and the deliciously adulterated ketchup.

Cheddar Burgers with Balsamic Onions and Chipotle Ketchup

Onions:
1 pound red onions, cut crosswise into 1/3- to 1/2-inch-thick rounds
Olive oil
3/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Chipotle ketchup:
1 cup ketchup
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped chipotle chiles from canned chipotles in adobo* plus 2 tablespoons adobo sauce from can

2 teaspoons (or more) balsamic vinegar

Burgers:
2 1/4 pounds ground beef (15% to 20% fat)
Coarse kosher salt
6 thick slices sharp cheddar cheese
6 large English muffins or hamburger buns, split, cut sides grilled
6 tomato slices (optional)
2 cups fresh spinach leaves

For onions:
Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat): Arrange onion rounds on baking sheet. Brush with oil; sprinkle with 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt and pepper. Transfer onion rounds (still intact) to grill rack; close cover. Cook until grill marks appear, about 4 minutes per side. Reduce heat or move onions to cooler part of grill. Close cover; cook until onions are tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer to medium bowl. Toss with vinegar. DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover; chill.

For chipotle ketchup:
Mix ketchup, chiles, adobo sauce, and 2 teaspoons vinegar in small bowl. Season with salt and more vinegar, if desired. do a h e a d Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill.

For burgers:
Shape beef into six 1/2-inch thick patties. Sprinkle patties on both sides with coarse salt and pepper. Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Place burgers on grill. Close cover; cook burgers until bottoms start to darken and juices rise to surface, about 3 minutes. Turn burgers; cook to desired doneness, about 3 minutes longer for medium-rare. Top with onions and cheese. Close cover; cook until cheese melts. Place muffin bottoms on plates; spread with ketchup. Top with burgers, tomatoes, if desired, spinach, and muffin tops. Serve, passing remaining ketchup separately.

To Trinity and beyond…

Devon and her family have been vacationing in Trinity Alps most of her life. It is a sort of sacred trip that occurs during the last two weeks in June. I knew 20 years ago when she asked Mike and I to join them for the camping portion of the vacation that we were close friends. Years later we were invited to join them for the cabin portion of the vacation – that’s when I knew that we were family.

A great deal of planning goes into meal preparation – weeks in advance the menu is developed and lists are carefully constructed. We know which ingredients are readily available at our shopping stop in Redding, which need to be brought from home, and who is bringing what. Meals are arranged according to how well their ingredients will last throughout the week. Each day we plan what steps can be prepared in advance and whose cabin we’ll prepare them in. It borders on obsession but the result is a week’s worth of delicious meals, each a perfect end to a day of lounging, biking and fly fishing.

Given the amount of planning that goes into each meal you can imagine our horror to find that the half dozen pork chops used for Bobby Flay’s Grilled Pork Chops Adobo we’d planned for that evening’s meal –were naked - when the recipe called for a 24 hour marinade. Shoot! How could we have missed this? What to do now? Panic ensued. Have a glass of wine and calm down!

As luck would have it we had leftover Nectar of the Gods from a previous meal. Mole to the rescue! The recipe calls for a side dish of Spicy Apple Chutney which we discovered goes beautifully with mole slathered pork chops.

Sometimes accidents happen and sometimes the results are such that they become a staple in your repertoire.

The original recipe comes from Bobby Flay’s Bold American Food.

Here’s the modified recipe:

Grilled Pork Chops con Mole

8 thick cut pork chops

Salt and pepper

1 container of Mole

Season Pork Chops with salt and pepper, grill. Slather with a good spoonful of mole and some Spicy Apple Chutney.

Spicy Apple Chutney

2 medium oranges

2 tablespoons butter

½ cup coarsely chopped red onion

1 tablespoon minced jalapeno

2 tablespoons finely diced ginger

2 cups orange juice

½ cup red wine vinegar

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup honey

8 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored halved and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons cilantro

2 tablespoons finely diced red bell pepper

Salt and pepper

Zest the oranges then cut peel away and cut out segments. Set aside

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter, sauté onion and jalapeno until onion is translucent. Add the ginger, orange zest, orange juice, vinegar, brown sugar and honey. Cook until reduced by half and has a glazed appearance.

Reduce heat to low, all two-thirds of the sliced apples and cook until the fruit is just tender. Turn off heat and gently fold in remaining apples and the orange sections.

Pour chutney into a bowl and allow to cool. Mix in the cilantro, bell pepper and salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Roasted yams and a big green salad round out this meal.

Pig Parts, Cheese and Redwood Trees

When I die, Kathy’s in charge of my ashes.

She’ll be required to make trips to Santa Fe and the Trinity Alps and other favorite haunts to return me, once and for all, to lands I love. She’s been a good sport about indulging my morbid fascination with final resting places many of which involve food of course. She knows I want a bit of my ashes spread at San Francisco’s Ferry building, otherwise known as Mecca to Foodies like me. She has a mental map: A few tablespoons sprinkled at Salumeria Boccolone, that shrine to all things porcine, and a few tablespoons at the Acme bread stand. Maybe a dash or two near the tamale booth and another smidgeon at the feet of the Allstar Organics woman who bottles dried chile flakes that miraculously taste of, and smell like, real chiles.

Kathy, her daughter Hayley and I recently embarked on an Easter road trip up the North Coast to visit my son Colin who attends Humboldt State. Ostensibly we went so that Hayley could tour the campus. But the real reason was to pay homage to Alice Waters. The long weekend would culminate in a meal at Waters’ famous Berkeley institution, Chez Panisse. Since it’s on the list of 1000 Places To See Before You Die we figured we better get busy. As a gastronomic build up to the big event, we’d celebrate the local farm to table movement long supported by Waters and visit the shops and restaurants of some of her disciples along the route.

We wandered through the farmers market early that Saturday morning, stuffing our bags with ingredients we planned to cook in our rented house in Arcata. The prize was a hunk of Guanciale from Boccolone (Motto: Tasty Salted Pig Parts!). The cured pork jowl was destined for Pasta Carbonara. Kathy had brought another key ingredient from home--day old eggs from her backyard chickens. We grabbed a hunk of imported parmesan from Cowgirl Creamery and a bag of English shelling peas as we had every intention of bastardizing the classic recipe. Lovely salad greens, a pork roast, fingerling potatoes and crusty loaves of Acme Bread completed our haul.

Side note: Steve Sullivan and Peggy Smith who founded Acme Bread and Cowgirl Creamery respectively, both worked with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse.

The night before, we’d eaten at The Zuni Café on Market Street. Owners Judy Rodgers and Gilbert Pilgram are also both Chez Panisse alum and the food there echoes Waters’ philosophy: simple, seasonal food, beautifully done.

While we waited for our table Hayley and I started with a selection of raw oysters from the bar, choosing from roughly 20 varieties.

Our meal did not disappoint. A starter of grilled baby fava beans in an herbed oil preceded Caesar Salads—“The best ever!” according to Hayley. When we inquired how they made the delicious croutons our waiter replied, “Deep Fry ‘em!”

We shared the crispy, succulent Zuni Roast Chicken surrounded by warm bread salad with tender, spicy mustard greens, a side of soft polenta with parmesan and a wedge of Meyer Lemon Tart for dessert.

You may be thinking, “They drove all that way for a roast chicken?” It’s truly sublime, each whole chicken cooked in the wood-burning oven, to order. A peek into the open kitchen reveals calm, controlled and intense focus from the oven master as rows of steaming chickens await plating.

Inspired and full of anticipation for what the rest of the trip would offer we headed north on Highway 101 on Saturday, determined to make it to Arcata by cocktail hour.

The second leg of our trip among the redwoods offered a myriad of epicurean delights…

• A picnic of Dante cheese from Cowgirl Creamery, Brown Sugar and Fennel salume from Boccolone and a Fig and Walnut Baguette enjoyed alongside the Eel River.
• Finding an entire wheel of Cypress Grove Dairy Humboldt Fog cheese for only $18.00 at the Arcata Co-Op.
• Fresh Organic Strawberry Ice Cream at Arcata Scoop
• The pasta carbonara made with Guanciale instead of ordinary bacon or pancetta. (It really does make a difference).

and we made some delightful discoveries….


• Dying brown eggs for Easter yields deep, rich jewel-like colors. We’ll never dye white ones again.
• No matter how old your kids are, they still like dying Easter eggs even if they say they don’t.
• Sugar Gliders are popular, albeit illicit, pets at the Humboldt dorms. (Google them)
• It can snow in Arcata in April.

The whole weekend’s menu was a nod to Spring, the food a celebration of Earth’s rebirth. So why the opening musings on death and dying? Honestly, it was the carbonara. It has always been my “last meal.” If I become suddenly prescient or a prison warden is breathing down my neck and I have to place an order, it will be Pasta Carbonara. But since I get to choose, it’ll be made with Boccolone’s Guanciale.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Adapted from Saveur Magazine

4 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
4 oz. chopped guanciale or pancetta cut
into 1⁄2" pieces
2 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper, plus more
to taste
1 3⁄4 cups finely grated Parmesan
1 egg plus 3 yolks
¾ cup to 1 cup fresh shelled English Peas
Kosher salt, to taste
1 lb. spaghetti

1. Heat oil in a 10" skillet over medium heat. Add guanciale and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 6–8 minutes. Add pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, 2 minutes more. Transfer guanciale mixture to a large bowl and let cool slightly; stir in 1 1⁄2 cups Parmesan and egg and yolks and stir to combine; set aside.

2. Meanwhile, bring a 6-qt. pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta; cook until al dente, 8–10 minutes. Reserve 3⁄4 cup water; drain pasta and transfer it to guanciale mixture. Dump in the peas. Toss, adding pasta water a little at a time to make a creamy sauce. Season with salt and pepper; serve with remaining Parmesan.

SERVES 4

Future post: Breakfast at another Alice Waters inspired Oakland Restaurant, Olivetto and finally: Chez Panisse.