FIRE & HEARTH 7/09/07

In this issue -- This year's Spring Birthday Party -- overlooking the Chattahoochee River -- features a plethora of fresh vegetables for a meal that concludes with a uniquely southern twist on a French classic dessert -- a Peach Clafoutis topped with toasted pecans. Plus there is a sampling of restaurants from home in Atlanta to the West Coast.

** An occasional newsletter devoted to food, wine, and
those things that make for a good life **
July 9, 2007 -- Vol. 10, No. 1
SPRING BIRTHDAYS
DEMOREST, Ga. -- Although it was late Spring this year, Kathy and I gathered with friends -- Paula Gordon and Bill Russell, along with Gabrielle Numair and Larry Shealey -- at Larry's home overlooking the Chattahoochee River, to celebrate what has become an annual event -- the Spring Birthday Party. All of the participants except me have birthdays in the Spring. Mine comes in the Fall and readers of these scribblings will remember that there is a fall birthday bash as well.
Everyone gets a chance to help out. For example, Paula fixed a luscious apple pie which was eaten with Sunday's breakfast.
I was in charge of the Saturday night dinner menu, and this year I was particularly happy that the dinner was occurring just as the bounty of Southern vegetables was coming to market. I decided to employ techniques from Spain, Italy and France on those wonderful ingredients.
The menu went like this: Pisto Manchego, Occhio de Bue, Seared Alaskan Halibut fillets over a Melange of Spring Vegetables in a White Wine Butter Sauce, Salad of Haricot Verts topped with Toasted Goat Cheese, and finally, Peach Calfoutis with toasted pecans.
Pisto Manchego is a dish from the Lamancha region in the heart of Spain. In this version, a bevy of fresh vegetables -- fennel, Vidalia onions, multi-colored bell peppers, tiny yellow squash, small Italian eggplants and cloves of garlic -- were sliced, tossed with extra virgin olive oil, and put in a grill pan. Larry slow roasted them over hardwood charcoal on his grill. When the vegetables were soft, they were put in a baking dish, sprinkled lightly with brown sugar, and roasted for another 15 minutes. This step adds a hint of that wonderful caramel flavor so distinctive in Spanish dishes.
As a first course, the vegetables were served on a platter with slices of crusty bread and glasses of mellow sherry. Grilling the vegetables intensifies the sugars as well as giving them a wonderful smoky flavor.
The second course was an Italian classic that I've tinkered with slightly -- Occhio de Bue, "eye of the bull." Each serving features blanched asparagus spears, tossed with walnut oil and balsamic vinegar, then topped with an egg. The dish goes into a hot oven until the egg white just sets. Grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and lemon zest are sprinkled over. The dish goes back in the oven for just a few seconds to let the cheese begin to melt. The egg adds a wonderful creamy taste to the asparagus, and every time I serve it, plates come back clean.
The main event was seared Alaskan halibut fillets atop a melange of Spring vegetables in a white wine butter sauce. For this dish I bought seasonal vegetables at the East Atlanta and Morningside Farmers Markets. I used tiny fresh-shelled lady peas and speckled butter beans, creamy fingerling potatoes, kernels of sweet corn and slices of Vidalia onion. The vegetables were all cooked separately in salted water, then added to a sauce made of crisp sauvignon blanc thickened with a little butter.
The halibut fillets were lightly dusted on top with seasoned flour, then slipped into a skillet with a mixture of extra virgin olive oil and butter over medium high heat. The fillets, about two inches (5 centimeters) thick, brown on the floured side, then are turned to finish on the opposite side.
Larry was keen to know how I knew the fish was done, complaining that most fish he is served is often overcooked. I go by both color and feel. The fish is done when the the thickest part of the fillet has turned a pearly white. A thick fillet will also have a firmness that is roughly like a medium steak. To get the feel, press the tip of your nose. Fish is definitely better a hair underdone than overdone. When you cook fish until it flakes, it's overdone and most likely dry. These fillets were moist and creamy, complimented by the fresh taste of the vegetables.
Next came one of my spring favorites, a salad of haricot verts, thin fillet-style French green beans. In this preparation, greens are tossed with walnut oil and balsamic vinegar. The green beans, stemmed and cooked in boiling salted water for about seven minutes, then cooled, are also tossed with the walnut oil, balsamic mixture and placed on top of the greens.
Rounds of goat cheese, about an inch and a half thick, are placed on an oiled sheet pan and run under the broiler until they begin to color and bubble. They are added to the top of the salad, which was garnished with wedges of freshly sliced Cherokee Purple tomatoes and sprinkled with pink Hawaiian sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper. The beans have a wonderful flavor and are so tender and fresh tasting.
Finally, there was the Peach Clafoutis. Traditionally in France, this custardy cake concoction is made with unpitted cherries, but the Georgia peaches were making their appearance in the market, and I thought there could be no better use for them. The egg batter is poured into a buttered iron skillet. The sliced peaches are added, and I thought, why not top them with chopped pecans. The clafoutis is baked until the custard sets, the top is brown, the pecans crunchy and the peaches meltinly tender.
With our dinner, we began with an old favorite, Dry Sack Amontillado sherry ($14.95, at Green's,737 Ponce De Leon Avenue, 404.872.1109.) With our main course, I chose Chateau Graville-Lacoste 2005 ($13.99 at Green's.) This is a sauvignon blanc with hints of semillion. Flinty dry, it was a perfect accompaniment to our fish.
Finally, with our clafoutis, we drank glasses of Eos "Tears of Dew" Late Harvest Moscato, 2004 ($19.95 at Kroger.) This late harvest vintage from Paso Robles on the central coast of California. It added a wonderful raisny, old fruit flavor and perfectly complimented out peaches and their crunchy pecan topping.
Here are two recipes, both easy to make:
Occhio di Bue
Asparagus topped with an egg
Ingredients

2 lb (1 kilo) asparagus -- use any size but I like thick spears, which I peel with a vegetable peeler
6 eggs
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup (60 grams) grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon (15 ml) balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons(60 ml) walnut oil
3/4 tablespoon (10 ml) grated lemon zest
table salt for the water, coarse sea salt for final seasoning
Freshly ground black pepper
6 oven-proof plates
Crusty bread to sop up the egg
Method
Preheat oven to 425F (246C) degrees.
Heat a pot of water, add a teaspoon of salt. Trim the asparagus. If the spears are fat, peel the stalks. Cook for three to four minutes until tender crisp. Remove the spears to an ice water bath to stop the cooking and set the color. Dry the spears on paper towels.
Toss the spears with a vinaigrette made with the walnut oil wisked with the balsamic vinegar.
Place three to four spears on each ovenproof plate. Crack an egg over each plate. Place the plates in the oven and let bake until the egg white begins to set. The yolk should still be runny.
Remove from the oven. Sprinkle each plate with parmesian cheese and lemon zest. Return to the oven for about 30 seconds to let the cheese begin to melt.
Remove from the oven. Season each plate with coarse sea salt, like pink Hawaiian sea salt, and a few turns of ground black pepper.
Serve with crusty bread to sop up the egg.
Serves 6
Peach Clafoutis
Ingredients

3/4 cup (185 grams) all purpose flour
1 tablespoon (15 ml) softened butter
6 eggs
6 tablespoons (90 gr) brown sugar
1 1/4 cups (310 ml) milk
1 tablespoon (15 ml) rum
a pinch of salt
2 1/2 to 3 cups (568 to 675 ml) - ripe peaches peeled and sliced into wedges
3/4 cup (177 ml) - chopped pecans
Method
Preheat the oven to 425F (218C).
Butter a 9-inch (22.9 cm) cast iron skillet or a similar sized baking dish. In the bowl of a food processor, add the eggs, sugar, milk, rum and salt. Pulse until blended. Add the flour and pulse again until the mixture is smooth.
Pour the egg mixture into the buttered skillet. Add the peach slices, evenly distributing them over the custard. Top with the chopped pecans.
Bake until a skewer inserted into the center of the clafoutis comes out clean, about 30 to 35 minutes. Serve warm.
Serves 6
THE JOYS OF SUMMER

I love this time of year because it is easy to have a few ripe tomatoes lying around just when you need them.
On a recent Sunday, following a big breakfast of cheese omelets, fresh strawberries and chicory coffee, Kathy and I were in the mood for something light for lunch.
I thought the tomatoes would be perfect, but how to serve them? Looking through the fridge, I saw that I had a block of Monterey Jack cheese, and so I decided to try a variation on a Caparese Salad. I gathered leaves of fresh basil from the garden, cut slices of the jack cheese and placed them between thick slices of tomato. I dressed the salad with tart champagne vinegar and spicy extra virgin olive oil.
The Monterey Jack cheese lacked the creamy freshness of fresh mozzarella cheese, but its mellow flavor worked very well with the basil and tomato.
We at the salad with crusty bread to sop up the dressing and washed it all down with glasses of crisp Jacob's Creek Riesling 2006 ($5.99 at Tower, 223 Moreland Avenue, 404.688.2744.)
RESTAURANT NOTES FROM NEAR AND FAR
JOEL, 3290 Northside Pkwy, 404.233.3500 -- There is nothing like the comfort of a good French meal accompanied by a deep and expansive selection of wines. A few months back, when our niece Kelly marked her birthday and her brother, Patrick, came to town from San Fransisco, we went to Joel to celebrate.
Among the highlights was a starter of gazpacho with bright, sharp flavors. I, as usual, had seared foie gras served with pear chutney and brioche toast, washing it down was a sweet Banyuls.
Among the standout main courses was Kelly's herb encrusted rack of lamb and my fillet of turbot, served atop artichokes in a Meyer lemon sauce.
I wanted to pick a pinot noir, and would have selected one from Burgundy had my eye not fallen on a 2004 Merry Edwards Meredith Estate Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($145). Edwards, the pioneering woman wine master, now sells almost all her production to restaurants. This one was smooth, rich and deep with cherry flavors and a hint of spice.
But that wasn't the end of the delights in wines. Kathy chose the cheese plate, which included absolutely unctuous Sable du Boulonais accompanied by a glass of riesling spatlese with a sweet acid balance, that after each sip, left your tongue clear and ready for the next bite.
With our desserts -- a praline Napoleon for Kelly, a lemon mille-feuilles stuffed with raspberries for Patrick and a traditional Creme Brulee for me, we were each served a different late harvest muscat, each with a different level of sweetness and old fruit flavors. Running from the sweetest back was a Yalumba Museum Muscat, a Muscat Beaumes de Venise, and a Muscat de Rivesaltes.
Dinner for four $580.86 plus tip.
PACIFIC KITCHEN, 913 Bernina Ave., 404.223.9292 -- We been a couple of times recently to this little restaurant which is located on the west side of a warehouse complex opposite Sotto Sotto on Highland Ave.
Chef Nick Leahy, a veteran of One Midtown Kitchen, loves his hot pepper. Both Kelly and Kathy have ordered soups that were so hot they couldn't taste anything but the chilies. But if you pick something that Nick hasn't flamed, he's very good. Among the dishes we have enjoyed was a San Francisco Cioppino packed with seafood in a savory tomato broth as well as a plate of Lobster Ravioli. A simple seared salmon fillet was remarkable in that it was wild salmon perfectly cooked, something that is often too rare in restaurant kitchens.
Dinner for four, $288.61.
During May, Kathy and I traveled to the west coast, spending some time with our friends David Ocepek and Martin Davis and their two sons, Nick and Chris, at their home in the Hollywood Hills. We also went to San Diego, then traveled back north to San Clemente for a couple of days with Jim and Ellen Hassler. We went back to San Diego with a group of Kathy's high school classmates for a 40th reunion cruse to Vancouver and then a short stop-over in Seattle before returning home. We ate well everywhere, but even if I could find the time to recount it all, it would take two issues of these scribblings. Instead, I want to mention a few highlights:
BOA STEAKHOUSE - Hollywood, 8462 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 323.650.8383 -- This steak house has a series of interesting rubs and compound butters you can choose to make your steak more than the ordinary broiled piece of beef, but one of its great charms is that each Sunday, the entire wine list is half off. David and Marty took us there after seeing the spectacular musical "Wicked" at the grand old Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.
We sampled two of the sort of outstanding wines that Napa can produce these days.
The first was Quintessa Meritage 2004 from one of the pioneering vineyards using "biodynamic" methods. These go beyond organic to pairing harvests to moon phases and reducing pests by natural methods like encouraging insects that kill other pests who attack the vines. The result was an inky wine with muted berries, almost like currents in intensity. The wine blossomed on your tongue into a rich complex set of flavors ending with a hint of chocolate.
The second was a Cain Five 2004, a blend of five Bordeaux grapes. If you looked at the same blend coming out of Bordeaux, you'd find a great, but somehow austere wine. What happens with the same grapes in the hands of Napa wine masters is a big, open expansive vintage. This one was just that lush with berries, smooth and with a hint of mint in the finish.
Dinner for four, $637.72.
THE FISHERMAN'S RESTAURANT & BAR, San Clemente, CA., 949.498.6390 -- Even though its days as a small town are really over, San Clemente still has that comfortable feel. Jim and Ellen Hassler took us down to the pier in San Clemente where the seafood is fresh and the servings huge.
Jim and I wanted clams and we ordered a clam bucket to share, thinking we would have just a nice taste before moving on to our entrees. Well, that bucket did not seem to have a bottom. Shells filled up the accompanying bowl and we were still slurping down clams and dipping bread in the bucket of sauce.
But of the entrees the Cippino I ordered was over the top, to say the very least. Filled with mussels, crab, shrimp, and fish, this traditional San Franscisco style fish stew came in an enormous bowl filled with linguine in a savory tomato broth. There was so much of it, that after I had done my best, there was enough for Jim and me to have for lunch the next day.
We washed down all that seafood with two great wines -- first a bottle of Cakebread Cellars Sauvignon Blanc, citrusy and flinty dry. Then came a bottle of Chalk Hill Sauvignon Blanc, softer but still crisp and delicious with the fish and shellfish.
Dinner for four, $265.72.
ELLIOTT'S OYSTER HOUSE, Pier 56, Seattle, 206.623.4340 -- A lot people who like fine dining wouldn't think of going to a place like Elliott's that is such a hit with tourists. True food lovers have another view. We've gone to Elliott's each time we've visited Seattle because the seafood is fresh, bountiful, and they don't get in the way of it.
Elliott's has a plethora of fresh, cold-water oysters available. I began with what's called the Pacific Dozen featuring Penn Cove, Sellar Bay and Eagle Rock oysters. They all had that wonderful taste and smell of the sea, perfect with a glass of cold, crisp pinot gris suggested by the bar man.
We also munched on crispy crab cakes made with sweet, succulent Dungeness crab as well as crab raviolis in a savory sauce laced with sherry.
Dinner for two, $197.69.
Until next time, a votre sante!
Randy Harber
Vol. 10, No. 1

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Updated 7/13/07 6:43 PM ET