Copper River Salmon is Here!

08 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by Bob and Robin in Basque Bread, Basque Foods, Beet Greens, Captain's Shack, Comfort Food, Dinner For Robin, Dinner With Robin, Idaho Greens, Idaho's Bounty, Local Farmers Markets, Local Harvests, Photos By: Bob Young, Red Chard, Salmon, Seafood, Spinach, Spring Greens, What's For Dinner?

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copper river, copper river salmon, wild salmon season

Here comes the salmon! Copper River salmon notes the start of the wild salmon season. “Barb Knivila – Copper River signals the start of the fresh wild salmon season. Keep your eyes peeled for wild king and wild sockeye out of Bristol Bay and other west coast fisheries!” Copper River salmon is just such a succulent type of salmon. Sweet. Not at all “fishy”. Very red meat. Great for steaming …. especially packet steaming. Add a little lime, lemon, French tarragon, sea salt and fresh Tellicherry pepper and you’ve got an awesome dinner. Better yet, let the fish marinate in this citrus over night in the refrigerator. Then add a little riesling wine for the fish to steam in. Yummers!

The packet emerges from the oven. It smelled so very good! Let it cool slightly before serving.

Copper River salmon plated with Steamed Beet, Spinach and Red Chard Greens. Add some toasted Basque bread and you’ve got a Heavenly dinner.

Celebration Theme At “The Buzz”

13 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Appetizers, Apple, Basque Foods, Cabbage, Celebrations, Dinner With Friends, Ethnic Foods, Food Photos, Italian Food, Main Dish, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Salad, Spanish Wines, Special Dinners, Special Events, Things To Do, Vegetables, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food

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the Buzz

Just in time for the holiday season quickly approaching. Celebrations of the World was the theme of the November Wine Club Dinner at the Buzz. We had dishes with a Spanish, German, Basque, African, Italian and the Netherlands influence. It was an exciting evening, full of information and tradition. Great job, Cristi! My only criticism of the dinner is the Swedish Meatballs could have had a little more of the sauce on it. The meat was a little dry, although the flavor was still there. A little more sauce – An easy fix. Here are some photos from the evening. The wine rating is [20] maximum points. Cheers! and see you at the next event. Thank you Paul Colwell for the wines, Peggy and Austin for being our Servers and Tommy for your support “behind the scenes”. An 800 calorie meal.

Spanish Fritatta

I enjoyed this appetizer. Great flavors.
2010 Faustino Crianza Tempranello
13% alc. a light wine and went well with the appetizer. lowest score of the night. [17] $14

Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup

If I don’t like pumpkin and I liked this soup, you will also!! It was good.
2010 Durigutti Malbec Reserva
14% alc. a wonderful wine with this soup. well balanced and fruitty. best score of the night [20] $22

Holiday Salad

2011 Anselmi
12.7% alc. a good white wine that went well with the acidity of the salad. good paring. try the wine before you eat the apple in the salad – things will change. [18] $15

Swedish Meatballs Cabbage Steaks Noodles Just a little dry as I noted above, but the flavors were still there. 2011 Luna Cabernet Sauvignon 14.1% alc. good, full bodied wine that paired well with the entree. [18] $18

Swedish Meatballs
Cabbage Steaks
Green Peas
Noodles

Just a little dry as I noted above, but the flavors were still there.
2011 Luna Cabernet Sauvignon
14.1% alc. good, full bodied wine that paired well with the entree. [18] $18

Gingerbread

A good ending to this meal. It really tasted good.
2010 Renwood Old Vine Zinfandel
14.5% alc. so good with the gingerbread. [19] $22

Cristi always opens the evening with usually two wines that she labels “Cristi’s Choice”. These were two really good wines.
2012 Zolo Torrentes from Mendoza, Argentina. A really nice white wine and well worth the $15 price. [18]
2011 Arenal Vina Paralillo Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. Again, well worth the $14 price. [18]

Lunch At Bar Gernika

02 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by Bob and Robin in Bar Gernika, Basque Foods, Ethnic Foods, Photos By: Bob Young, What's For Dinner?

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Robin and I went down to the Basque Block in Boise at noon to eat at Bar Gernika and to see the well that was found at the Basque Hotel. We had a wonderful meal of

Lamb Dip
tender slices of roasted leg of lamb on a fresh roll with a light lamb sauce for dipping

Lamb Stew
tender cubes of leg of lamb with potatoes, onions and green peppers in sauce

Basque Style Rice Pudding
sweet rice pudding served chilled with a sprinkle of cinnamon

Kalimotxo (Cal-ee-mo-cho)
half cola and half red wine served over ice

Union Jack IPA

Thank you Jeff for being the perfect host and “guide” through the menu. Your suggestions were superb.

Beer guide

A wonderful lamb stew!!

At the Basque Hotel in Boise, they were repairing and replacing the old porch. When they removed the wood planking, an old well was found. Time to excavate. Here are some of the artifacts that have been found so far.

This is the well that they found. They have already excavated six feet in depth. It is great that the public is allowed and encouraged to go and see the process. The Basque Hotel is located in the Basque Block in Boise. And, Boise has the largest Basque population in the United States.

Here are some artifacts they located.

More artifacts.

Exploring the Basque Country Foods

21 Thursday Jul 2011

Posted by Bob and Robin in Basque Foods, Ethnic Foods, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food

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We were reading the July 20 issue of the Boise Weekly, and found this exciting article by Guy Hand on, Exploring the Evolution of Basque Cuisine, Going beyond pintxos and chorizos. Here is an excerpt. Click on the hot link for the full article. It is worth your time and it is interesting. And while you are at it, remember to create a garden – any size – to fulfill your need for fresh, wholesome local vegetables!

As the class watched, one chef, dressed in his crisp chef’s whites, broke open a lobster with his bare hands; another drizzled a long stream of grassy, high-end olive oil into a bright green parsley sauce; another sauteed mussels with string beans; and a fourth, speaking through an interpreter, explained the steps required to assemble a warm clam cocktail.

Gloria Totoricaguena stood to the side smiling. Through a week-long series of classes, wine tastings and dinners, she was trying to bust a few myths about the food of her ancestral home: the Basque Country of Spain.

“What the typical non-Basque person in the American West thinks of as Basque food–barbecued lamb, bean soup, chorizos in a hotdog bun–is not typical in the homeland,” she said.

Speaking of keeping it local, Sustainable Community Connections is hosting its inaugural 20X20 fund-raising event, which offers 20 local courses for $20.Guy Hand, a friend of ours, a local NPR celebrity and a locovore, does a great job in discussing and describing the Basque cuisine. Here we get a little more insight to the cultural foods. Boise has the largest concentration of Basque in the USA. Just thought you’d like to know that. Read the article. It is good.

And while we are on the subject of locovore – we were? – here is an interesting article in the July 20 issue of the Boise Weekly again. The article is by Tara Morgan. It can be found by Clicking This Link.

Speaking of keeping it local, Sustainable Community Connections is hosting its inaugural 20X20 fund-raising event, which offers 20 local courses for $20.

The event will go down at Red Feather Lounge on Sunday, Aug. 21, and feature 10 different tasting-size portions of local grub served up with 10 beer/cocktail pairings. Red Feather will shut its doors to the public for the event, which is limited to 120 attendees.

The 20X20 program encourages Boise residents “to build a strong local, living economy in Idaho” by pledging to purchase 20 percent of their goods and services from locally owned and independently operated businesses, ensure that 20 percent of the food they consume is produced locally, invest 20 percent of their assets in local banks or credit unions, ride their bikes 20 percent more and reduce electricity and water usage by 20 percent.