14 Saturday Nov 2015
The “Spoon”
The Boise Farmers Market
I was asked this morning, “Why do you come to the market?” I told him: I go to see the people. To visit with the farmers. To support our local farmers as much as possible. To make “my rounds” at the above listed farmers. And I miss the Market between December 20th and March 1st. I totally believe in Buying Local and I support that philosophy as much as possible.
The Boise Farmers Market open indoors now through Dec 19th.
08 Sunday Nov 2015
Posted in 5-Stars, Appetizers, BBQ Sauce, Bistro, Braising, Brunch, Brunch with Robin, Buy Idaho, Classic Cuisines, Classic Sauces, Coffee, Comfort Food, Dill, Eggs, Eggs Poached, Herbs and Spices, Idaho Chefs, Idaho Greens, Idaho Pork, Idaho Potatoes, Idaho Wine, Idaho's Bounty, Parma Ridge Winery, Parma Ridge Winery Bistro, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Salads, Sliders, Special Information, What's For Dinner?, Wines - Idaho
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Yea! Parma Ridge Winery, 24509 Rudd Road, Parma, ID has re-opened! Under new owners Chef Storm and Stephanie Hodge, the venue has changed also. They are now serving a wonderful Sunday Brunch from 12 noon to 5:00pm. The space indoors is limited in the winter season to about 25 seats. The deck is open in season. Wonderful owners. Wonderful location. Wonderful food. The wine pictured is really a good Rosé of Merlot. Not too sweet and with a little spice to it. It was named after their daughter. You might want to call for reservations if you have 4 or more people. Or visit their website at Parma Ridge Wine and Spirits. From their website, “Tasting Room hours are 12-5 p.m., Friday – Sunday. Now open for Happy Hour Friday from 4-7 p.m. Join us for a glass of wine, a bite of food and take in the amazing view!” Enjoy the creations of Chef Storm and/or the artwork of Stephanie. Here is what we had and some photos of the area. Enjoy! Ranks very high for winery food – 5-Stars! It’s that good! I have also listed it on TripAdvisor.
The sign at the entrance.
The tasting room and restaurant.
View from the patio at the tasting room.
There is a variety of herbs from the garden for the kitchen.
Artist Stephanie Hodge at the tasting counter.
Chef Storm Hodge in his kitchen.
The seating area in the restaurant.
Happy Hour menu.
Sunday Brunch menu in addition to the Happy Hour menu.
05 Thursday Nov 2015
And still a very good breakfast. The bad news? They are eliminating the breakfast menu as of November 6, 2015. They have a very small kitchen area and they want to be able to make more of their pastries. You can visit their website at Rembrandt’s Coffee House. In place of the breakfast, they will be serving fresh baked muffins, scones, quiches, pastries, oatmeal, granola and grab and go lunches – fresh made deli type sandwiches. They will still have their fresh ground coffees. (See the notice below) Definitely a 4-Star restaurant. Well worth the trip to Eagle.
Notice to stop their full breakfast menu.
The ordering area.
Pastry case.
The dining area. Couches. Tables. Chairs. Pews. Oh yes! It once was a church. All ages are welcome – very young, children, old and very old!
Frosted Cinnamon Roll
Lil Jake Omelet and Fresh Fruit with Avocado
Johnnie’s Omelet with Potatoes and Sour Cream
So say “Good-Bye” to these omelet goodies. I can understand their wanting to,”Better utilize the small, kitchen area, but we will miss the breakfast goodies,” he said with a tear in his eye.
04 Wednesday Nov 2015
Posted in 5-Stars, Appetizers, Boise Farmers Market, Boise Food Adventures, Boise Restaurants, Buffalo, Buy Idaho, Chef Richard Langston, Cinder Wines, Classic Cuisines, Dinner With Robin, Dinner With The Winemaker, Duck, Gumbo, Healthy Eating, Idaho Chefs, Idaho Greens, Idaho Wine, Idaho's Bounty, Local Farmers Markets, Local Harvests, Local Markets, New Orleans Food, Oysters, Photos By: Bob Young, Restaurant Reviews, Restaurants To Try, Seafood, Shrimp, Special Dinners, Special Events, Squash, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food, Wine Dinners, Wines - Idaho
Actually, this restaurant used to be Cafe Vicino’s. Now it is known as Richard’s Cafe Vicino, owned and operated by Chef Richard Langston. It is a superb place to go. Every bit a 5-Star restaurant. Great date night or special occasion restaurant. The food and the service is superb. We were there for the South by Southwest Wine Dinner, featuring wines from Cinder Winery. Winemaker Melanie Krause and Joe Schnerr were both there to describe and talk about the wines. Here is what we had. Enjoy! We did. Left-Click any of these photos to see them enlarged.
The menu and accompanying wines.
26 Monday Oct 2015
In the normal course of events of a daily schedule, we usually try to watch the Rachael Ray Show, just another in our long list of cooking shows we watch. Inquiring minds need to know. So today, she was making a tomato sauce and she used passata. We had no idea what this was, except it looked like tomato. It is. Uncooked, processed and strained to remove seeds and skins. Simply stated – passata is not cooked and it is made from fresh, de-stemmed and cored tomatoes. I did find this link on the web, What is Tomato Passata? on The Kitchn website.
It seems as if passata is an uncooked tomato puree that has been strained of seeds and skins. It originated in Italy but is used throughout Europe. Some passatas are chunkier and some are smoother, depending on the brand. Some people claim that passata can also be cooked, but most agree that it is uncooked. You will also see it spelled passato and passata di pomodoro … How is passata different from tomato sauce or tomato paste? Well, both the sauce and paste are cooked tomato products to begin with. Tomato sauce often has other ingredients such as carrots, onions, garlic, etc. And tomato paste is cooked down and much thicker. You would not want to substitute either product if passata is called for in your recipe. If you cannot find it in your store, take plain canned tomatoes and run them through a sieve or a food mill. While most passatas are just plain tomatoes, some are sold with additions, such as basil, so read your label carefully if this is an issue … In general, passata is considered to be a superior product to canned tomatoes, using higher quality tomatoes and processing methods. I’m really looking forward to giving it a try!
According to some sources, passata is rarely used in the USA and can be hard to find. However, Robin and I have found it – sold as Pomi – at Albertsons Grocery Stores and at Whole Foods. You can also try World Market Cost Plus. Whenever we come across a tomato recipe that calls for tomato sauce, a passata is what we use. And we use the brand Pomi. We like the richness and thickness of this product. Plus, it tends to be low in the sodium content. But then too, you can make your own if you so desire. Cheers and enjoy!
22 Thursday Oct 2015
Posted in 5 Hour Duck, 5 Hour Duck Sauce, Acme Bake Shop Sourdough, Beans, Boise Farmers Market, Captain's Shack, Carrots, Classic Sauces, Cooking Styles, Dinner At The Captains Shack, Dinner For Robin, Dinner With Robin, Duck, Heirloom Carrots, Local Farmers Markets, Photos By: Bob Young, Ravenswood Winery Zinfandel, Recipe: Bob and Robin Young, Recipes, Recipes - Dinner, Recipes - Sauces, Side Dishes, What's For Dinner?
Yes, I know, I have made another post about this 5 Hour Roasted Duck. And it is always a great way to make duck – not greasy or fatty, yet moist and succulent. This time we have a twist. We made a Cherry, Cranberry and Rosemary Sauce (aka: 5 Hour Duck Sauce) for this entree. It was a perfect match! (It probably would go quite well with pork, too!) The cherry sauce is sweet, yet tangy from the cranberry. And the rosemary adds a really good flavor level that pairs well with the duck. Cooking the duck slow and low, really enhances it and creates a wonderful crispy skin. Here are some photos. Enjoy!
The duck after two hours at 300 degrees F. The duck is not covered throughout the entire cooking process.
The cherry, cranberry and rosemary sauce for the duck.
Side dish of white beans, heirloom carrots and baby turnips. This accompanies the dinner very well.
Add to the dinner, a wonderful
and you have a wonderful dinner. Decant the wine first.
08 Thursday Oct 2015
Posted in 5-Stars, Anthropology of Food, Boise Adventures, Boise Restaurants, Brats, Buy Idaho, Cabbage, Capitol Cellars, Chef David Shipley, Classic Cuisines, Dinner at Capitol Cellars, Dinner With Friends, Dinner With Robin, Ethnic Foods, German Food, Herbs, Ice Cream, Idaho Chefs, Idaho Pork, Local Harvests, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Pork, Restaurants, Restaurants To Try, Special Dinners, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food, Wine Dinners at Capitol Cellars, Wines - German
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What a wonderful dinner at Capitol Cellars in Boise to celebrate Oktoberfest!! Every bit a 5-Star dinner and celebration! We made some new friends as we sat at a table for 6. And that really added to the enjoyment of the evening. Sharing food comments. Wine comments. Beer comments. Logan Smyser and Exec Chef Dave Shipley did another wonderful job. Logan pouring and Chef Dave and his crew in the kitchen. From their website,
Capitol Cellars, LLC is a throwback to old world ideals and a different, slower way of living. To us, the kitchen is a holy place and meals are about enjoying the food as well as the camaraderie around the table. Adjusting our menu to suit the seasons, we follow nature and how its bounty is intended. This ensures the culinary creations you order and we prepare are made with the freshest and most flavorful ingredients.
The menu and wine/beer list for our dinner.
Exec Chef Dave Shipley and Logan Smyser
Exec Chef Dave Shipley and his kitchen crew! Thanks! Great job.
Logan serves the beer, in this case a Hofbrau Oktoberfest. Great with our dinner. The slightly sweet component went very well with Bison Brätwurst, see below.
New friends at our table.
“A bratwurst (German: [ˈbʁaːtvʊɐ̯st], also known as a brat in American English, is a sausage usually composed of veal, pork or beef. The name is derived from Old High German Brätwurst, from brät-, which is finely chopped meat and Wurst, or sausage. Though the brat in bratwurst described the way the sausages are made, modern Germans associate it with the German verb “braten”, which means to pan fry or roast. Bratwurst is usually grilled or pan fried, and sometimes cooked in broth or beer.” [Wikipedia]
In my opinion, this was the best wine of the evening! Fruity with cherries. Slightly hot with higher alcohol. Very smooth. The red wine mushroom sauce was superb!
This was a super dessert.
Have a great Oktoberfest! Prosit! ( “may it be for (you)”, “may it benefit (you)”)
06 Tuesday Oct 2015
After putting together 13 lbs of cabbage for Sauerkraut, from the Boise Farmers Market – shredding, salting, herbing, packing in the Harsch Fermenting Crock – I heard a faint voice asking, “What’s for dinner?” It was 4:15pm. Where did the time go? So we discussed salmon and fennel. Good start. I’ll come up with the rest. Here was our dinner and it was yummy.
06 Tuesday Oct 2015
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Jacques Pépin, one of the world’s most famous and skilled Chef’s, celebrates his 80th birthday. Here is some information about him from Wikipedia.
Jacques Pépin (born December 18, 1935)[1] is an internationally recognized French chef, television personality, and author working in the United States. Since the late 1980s, he has appeared on French and American television and written an array of cookbooks that have become best sellers. In addition to the Daytime Emmy Award won with Julia Child, Pépin has received two of the French government’s highest honors: He is a Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1997) and a Chevalier de L’Ordre du Mérite Agricole (1992). In October 2004, he received France’s ultimate civilian recognition, the Légion d’honneur.
On May 13, 2010, Pépin, along with other chefs from The French Culinary Institute (known as The International Culinary Center), Alain Sailhac, Jacques Torres and André Soltner, prepared a $30,000-per-couple dinner for President Barack Obama’s fund-raiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee at Manhattan’s St. Regis Hotel.
On February 5, 2010, during the christening of MS Marina, Pépin was named an honorary commodore of the Oceania Cruises fleet,[7] for which he serves as Executive Culinary Director.
He received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Boston University on May 22, 2011. In October 2011, Pépin was the recipient of the first-ever tribute dinner at the New York Food and Wine Festival. Cooking for Pépin at the event, hosted by Martha Stewart, were some of America’s best-known French chefs including Alain Ducasse, Daniel Boulud, and others.James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award
James Beard Foundation, Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America
Chevalier de L’Ordre du Mérite Agricole
Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Daytime Emmy, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home
James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook Hall of Fame, La Technique
James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook Hall of Fame, La Méthode
James Beard Foundation Award for Best National TV Cooking Show, Jacques Pépin’s Kitchen: Encore with Claudine
James Beard Foundation Award for Best National Cooking Segment, Jacques Pépin’s Kitchen: Cooking with Claudine
James Beard Foundation Outstanding Culinary Video, Today’s Gourmet
Co-founder of the American Institute of Wine and Food
06 Tuesday Oct 2015
Posted in Appetizers, Asian Food, BBQ Chicken, Boise Farmers Market, Brocolli, Bronco Nation, Captain's Shack, Carrots, Chicken, Chicken Wings, Chinese Food, Coconut Rice, Dinner At The Captains Shack, Gameday, Local Farmers Markets, Local Harvests, Mushrooms, Mushrooms - Chanterelles, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Recipe by: Robin and Bob Young, Recipes, Recipes - Seafood, Sea Scallops, Seafood, Shell Fish, Shrimp, Slow Cooking, What's For Dinner?
Such a good meal combination. No! Not all at once but over three days. The recipe for the chicken wings and the stir fry are listed permanently in the recipe file. The link to that file is at the top of this page. But for now, here is the link to the Shrimp, Scallop and Pineapple Stir Fry recipe and the recipe for the Robin’s Chicken Wings, that would be great at a Tailgate Party! Here is some information about chanterelle mushrooms –
Cantharellus cibarius, commonly known as the chanterelle, golden chanterelle or girolle, is a fungus. It is probably the best known species of the genus Cantharellus, if not the entire family of Cantharellaceae. It is orange or yellow, meaty and funnel-shaped. On the lower surface, underneath the smooth cap, it has gill-like ridges that run almost all the way down its stipe, which tapers down seamlessly from the cap. It emits a fruity aroma, reminiscent of apricots and a mildly peppery taste (hence its German name, Pfifferling) and is considered an excellent edible mushroom. Though records of chanterelles being eaten date back to the 16th century, they first gained widespread recognition as a culinary delicacy with the spreading influence of French cuisine in the 18th century, where they began appearing in palace kitchens. For many years, they remained notable for being served at the tables of nobility. Nowadays, the usage of chanterelles in the kitchen is common throughout Europe and North America. In 1836, the Swedish mycologist Elias Fries considered the chanterelle “as one of the most important and best edible mushrooms.”
Chanterelles as a group are generally described as being rich in flavor, with a distinctive taste and aroma difficult to characterize. Some species have a fruity odor, others a more woody, earthy fragrance, and still others can even be considered spicy. The golden chanterelle is perhaps the most sought-after and flavorful chanterelle, and many chefs consider it on the same short list of gourmet fungi as truffles and morels. It therefore tends to command a high price in both restaurants and specialty stores.
There are many ways to cook chanterelles. Most of the flavorful compounds in chanterelles are fat-soluble, making them good mushrooms to sauté in butter, oil or cream. They also contain smaller amounts of water- and alcohol-soluble flavorings, which lend the mushrooms well to recipes involving wine or other cooking alcohols. Many popular methods of cooking chanterelles include them in sautés, soufflés, cream sauces, and soups. They are not typically eaten raw, as their rich and complex flavor is best released when cooked.
Next meal, wonderful Seafood Stir Fry. Look at this!
Scallops, shrimp, celery, broccoli and pineapple in a wonderful stir fry. See the recipe and enjoy. Here it is cooking.
And finally, awesome tailgate fare with these chicken wings. (Recipe above) Don’t bypass marinating the wings for the 2 hours or so. Enjoy!
Chicken wings getting happy!
Boise Foodie Guild 