[laurel]

Ok, let's do the apple tasting menu cook-together (as previously discussed in other forums) on Saturday March 5. Vengroff has kindly volunteered his house and kitchen for the event. I think I remember that he lives somewhere around Madison Valley/Madison Park.

Here's the link to information about the cookbook we're using, as well as where to download it:

http://www.tastingme...les/default.htm

Like the last few cook-togethers we've had, we'll probably start cooking somewhere in the afternoon. It's usually been a sit wherever, eat whatever whenever it's done kind of thing, but since it's a tasting menu, I think it would be fun to try to actually sit down and plate everything, but we can decide on when we want to start eating or how closely we need to plan things when people have a better idea of what they need to do for their recipes.

Lets start choosing our dishes!

Available are:

[whitelotus] Dungeness Crab wrapped in Red Delicious Apples

[laurel]Buckeye Apple filled with Foie Gras served with Preserve Fig Vincotto as a condiment

[Abra] Red Cabbage Velouté with Apple Geleé

[chefwendy] Cooked & Raw Zumi Apple with Red Prawn & Virgin Olive Oil Dressing

[Fwed/Ed] Pork prepared two ways with Apple Cider Sauce & Tyrolean Apple Dumplings

[TamIAm] Gorgonzola d’Oro with Shaved Apples & Truffle Honey

[vengroff]Apple Soup with Cinnamon Cream

[little ms foodie/Dayne] Bolzano Apple Cake

[white lotus]

Thankyou Laurel and Vengroff. Our first mouthfuls cook together, hurray! Definitely count me in. I can bring non-wine beverages as well. wl

[Leslie]

Thanks Laurel for posting about this!

I thought I would also add for those outside the area reading along, Laurel's post includes a free clickable downloadable apple tasting e-cookbook by Chef Scott Carsberg from Lampreia Restaurant in Seattle. Scott has received at least 2 writeups in the NYT that I recall. The cookbook info says: Content: 100 pages, 291 photos, Size: 9.37 MB .

I have not downloaded it yet but will do so, and I hope to make the event as well.

[TamIam]

Laurel, thanks for posting about this. I would love to join in, and am most interested in the one with gorgonzola and truffle honey. Sounds like a fun treat to eat. Mmmmm.

[Abra]

Being mandoline-less, I'd like to do either the cabbage veloute or the apple soup, whichever someone else doesn't want. Or, if all the recipes end up spoken for, I'll be happy to enter a creation of my own into the fray.

[SeaGal]

I'd like to be in on this too, but am on my way out of town for the weekend, so will have to put off deciding what to choose until Monday.

If some of these dishes are particularly labor intensive, maybe we could team up on them. I downloaded the book, but really haven't had a chance to look through all of it.

That said, the crab salad in apples looks interesting and I do have a mandoline, although I am not a pro with it by any means.

Jan

[tanabutler]

Please don't think I'm horribly mean or ignorant (but I might be both in the right context)...here's my question.

Why are you doing apples now, when they're best and freshest in the autumn? The longer they're stored, the lower the brix, the more nutrients and flavor are lost, etcetera.

I learned all this from a Santa Cruz apple farmer who told me that the way Oregon and Washington apple farmers beat California apple farmers out of the market was by holding their apples back for ten months and releasing them (to the stupid corporate supermarkets, who buy old apples) before the California crops came ripe.

Isn't there a fairly big difference in apples that are several months old than newly picked ones? Maybe not.

I'm just so big on the local/seasonal thing, and I know Washington has glorious apples in the autumn!

[tighe]

Oh oh...looks like the seasonality police are here......

Hmm...what exactly IS seasonal in this part of the country in February? Perhaps we should be doing turnips 20 ways instead.

Are apples now as good as in October? Absolutely not. Are there any better local options at the moment? Absolutely not.

[tanabutler]

I'm not the police, and I don't appreciate being called that—reminds me of another food forum/Society where such questions are regarded as some kind of snobbery or such. It was a legitimate question.

Right about now, strawberries, artichokes, and some more cool stuff are coming in, in a couple of weeks or so here. I'm not that tuned into the growing season up there, but it can't be that far behind ours, here on the fairly temperate West coast.

[Leslie]

thanks tana. I think tighe was just joking with you. His sense of humor is just one of his many lovable traits.

You bring up a good point, but so does he. This thread is for planning the event though, as we've already decided on it.

I think the apple wrapped crab looks and sounds divine. I think Jan's idea about teaming up on some of these is a good idea.

[tighe]

Leslie, on Feb 18 2005, 08:09 AM, said:

thanks tana. I think tighe was just joking with you. His sense of humor is just one of his many lovable traits.

Leslie, you're so sweet to give me the benefit of the doubt.

Guess what everyone....I ate berries imported from Chile this week. ...naughty!

[laurel]

I assume you're in California? The 10 degree temperature difference and half hour or so of daylight difference between, say, Puget Sound and the Bay Area might not be that big a difference to a person, but it seems to make a lot of difference to crops. Right now we're getting lows of about 30 and highs of about 50. If it was 10 degrees warmer it wouldn't freeze.

The leafy things aren't as affected by this; we can get them almost all year (except for a few weeks in January or February when they're frozen and can't be harvested). Fruits and berries are affected more, local strawberries start in May and aren't really great/plentiful until June. I've seen oranges in San Jose, we definitely don't have that here

Here's a general harvest schedule for the area: http://dnr.metrokc.g...st_schedule.htm

And here's one from the CSA farm I use that really makes an effort to grow things through the winter: http://www.whistling...opschedule.html

But they're all pretty much greens and roots until June. Probably more than you cared to know

[Scorched Palate]

As a former San Franciscan and current Seattleite, I can say emphatically that we do not even come close to strawberries for months yet. Last year I think we had them in late April and all the produce folks and gardeners were tut-tutting about what this meant for global warming. We don't get decent tomatoes here until August, when they're easily gotten in June in SF (from Sacramento and Central Valley farms). And then they're gone again in September, whereas they last until Halloween in SF.

And that extra daylight makes a big difference to a person, too. I never mind the rain (or even the snow) but losing daylight was something I hadn't bargained for. It's probably the most difficult adjustment I've had to make here, other than leaving behind our friends.

~A

(edited for typos)

[tighe]

laurel, on Feb 18 2005, 09:59 AM, said:

Here's a general harvest schedule for the area: http://dnr.metrokc.g...st_schedule.htm

Shit, it looks like even turnips are out of season in February. How many dishes can we come up with using parsnips, leeks and cabbage? I'll start:

Parsnip bundles: thinly sliced sheets of parsnip filled with a confit of leeks and cabbage. Man, now THAT is going to be a white dish. Needs a sauce...how about a fir tree bough reduction?