Poached chicken looks rather naked compared to a beautifully browned roasted hen. Add some spring baby vegetables to the pot and Henrietta Hen arrives at the table adorned with beautiful, edible bling.
Goldie Lox and Four Friends – our little Goldie shuns her three bears and dresses up with four strong flavored condiments: Soft Scrambled Eggs with Lox, Red Onion, Capers, Chives and Cream Cheese
“Why I love this recipe. This is a recipe that can be either a breakfast dish or a dessert at the end of a meal. The flavor can be ramped up w/the amount of brandy you chose to add.
I enjoy it for it’s flavor but also because it was my first attempt to enter a cooking contest. It was fun to challenge myself and come up w/my own concoction….it’s just another form of creative art for me.” Ginny Renaud
Buttermilk pie originally hails from England. Today the deep south stakes claim as its home with Texas bestowing more love on it than most. A custard of buttermilk, eggs, butter and sugar baked in a pie shell is a simple pleasure, no pretentiousness here. However, there is elegance in its simplicity. The tangy tartness of the buttermilk shines through if you don’t drown it in sugar. Sometimes a little lemon zest can add additional brightness.
What do you do when life gives you figs? Frankly my dear, who knew that life even gives a fig?
I would never feel surprised to open my front door to find an orphaned bag of, say, zucchini. Even other garden surplus wouldn’t surprise me. But figs? This is clearly in the realm of a blessing.
Drunken Fig Preserves with Rosemary, Lemon and Port Wine
I must have been in the equivalent of a culinary coma in late 2006 when The New York Times made popular a foolproof, no-knead bread recipe developed by Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery in New York and the recipe went viral. At last, home cooks who were mystified by the whole process of [...]
I had the pleasure recently of visiting with John Miller, owner of Mahonia Vineyard, and Travis Henry, Mahonia’s vice president who handles sales and marketing, and getting a chance to learn more about their operation and their wines. This small producer in South Salem has been growing and making wonderful wines for more than 20 [...]
I’ve always had a fascination with pâté. There are so many variations, from dense to creamy, but they all have that rich flavor in common. You can also make pâté from a variety of foods, including ground pork, chicken livers, vegetarian ingredients like mushrooms and lentils, and then there’s foie gras. Now before you start [...]
Sometime in the past couple of years, I’ve come to appreciate drinking chardonnays that aren’t drenched in oak, which can mask some of the more delicate flavor notes of chardonnay. Fermenting in oak can add a golden color and flavors of butterscotch or toast to the wine. But with shifting American palates, more and more [...]
I usually limit the topic of my wine column to Oregon wines, but since this rare occasion to learn more about Spanish wines is happening in Portland, I’m giving myself some leeway. Wine from Spain is hosting Great Match Portland, a dynamic evening full of wine tasting and seminars that highlight Spanish wines and winemaking [...]
Now that Chinese dumplings and wontons have become so mainstream America, it’s ripe for a regional hijacking as well. Chinese dumplings are traditionally stuffed with chicken and chives, pork and chives, or pork and shrimp. But since we’re in Oregon and salmon is so plentiful, here’s an Oregon-tinged dumpling stuffed with salmon and shrimp.
On cold and wet days, nothing warms you up like a bowl of creamy leak and potato soup. Plus, it’s hearty enough to eat as a dinner with a small salad to go along with it. Just make sure you have some good sourdough bread to go along with your soup as you’ll want to sop up all that creamy liquid.
A good fisherman never wastes his catch. So what do you do when you go jetty fishing and end up with a kelp greenling? (A boney but tasty fish) You make an Oregon version of San Francisco’s famous fisherman’s stew, cioppino! Just add dungeness crab, clams and mussels!
One of summer’s delicious and juicy treats is fresh heirloom tomatoes. They come in so many varieties, each with a unique flavor that adds its note to the chorus of tomatoes. There are purple varieties, beefstake, orange and golden yellow. Wandering the farmers markets in the late spring and early summer, its one of the vegetables I look forward to coming into season. And when they do, what a more perfect way to enjoy them than in fresh gazpacho. Chilled to take the edge off your summer afternoon.
Among our edible gifts of providence is the Pacific Northwest Salmon. It is food fit for the gods. Rich in flavor and an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, protein, minerals and vitamins, it is often recommended for consumption twice a week.
OK. I admit it. Trout croquettes sounds a lot nicer and more intriguing than saying fishcakes made from trout. But that’s basically what these are. People used to turn their noses up at fishcakes, but it’s been a staple in England for a long time. The economical British used leftover cod or other whitefish and [...]
A good fisherman never wastes his catch. So what do you do when you go jetty fishing and end up with a kelp greenling? (A boney but tasty fish) You make an Oregon version of San Francisco’s famous fisherman’s stew, cioppino! Just add dungeness crab, clams and mussels!
Nowadays, you don’t have to go foraging for mussels at the beach. Farm-raised mussels are so common that fresh mussels are available at most grocery stores year-round. One of my favorite ways to prepare them is in a Thai style with peppers, basil and a sweet and salty sauce. You can make it a starter or part of a meal by pairing it with another stir fry.
There are occasions when you’re cooking that nothing can surpass rendered pork fat. You’ll be amazed at how much more flavorful your hash browns are, or any potato for that matter, when cooked in pork fat. Or how robust your sauteed green beans will be. Or delectable your collard greens. Or how flaky your pie crust will be. Or how rich your quail or pheasant will taste when seared in pork fat. Instead of buying commercially available lard bricks at the store, I prefer to render pork fat myself. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to do, and how long it can keep in the refrigerator in a mason jar.
This dish combines two ingredients that are among my favorites: pork tenderloin and pineapple. Pork tenderloin is one of those unappreciated cuts of meat. And too bad too. It’s easy to cook, lean and low in fat plus it doesn’t take long to cook. Pineapple is one of those fruits that’s commonly used in cooking in Asian foods, but not so much with American dishes. And too bad for that, too. It has the perfect balance of sweet and tart and lends itself to sweet and sour dishes. Plus you don’t have to mess with a fresh pineapple if you don’t want to deal with the rather complicated process of peeling and prepping the fruit — you can just use canned pineapple.
Traditional Saltimbocca alla Romana or Vitelo Saltimbocca, as it is occasionally dubbed, is a scaloppine of veal pounded thin with a thin slice of prosciutto and sage leaves. It is often sautéed in butter and then served with a pan sauce of stock and wine such as Marsala. It is also made with chicken, turkey or pork with equal success.
Saltimbocca is a contraction of i salta in bocca which means “it jumps in the mouth”. If we could be time-traveling flies-on-the-wall and go back a few centuries to the restaurant where saltimbocca alla Romana began, we’d probable hear some hungry Italian calling to the waiter, “Hey Guido, bringa me somma dat dish dat jumps ina my mouth!”
Being an ex-Texan, I believe that barbecue affectionados can be divided into two camps: Those who prefer rub and those who prefer sauce. The methods are similar in that they impart sweet and salty flavors to the meat. They part ways in their methods. Rubs are dry. Sauces are, well, wet. I’m a saucy kinda guy. Whenever I’m craving barbecue, I’m always amazed when I’m at the grocery store and see people plying the grocery store aisle for barbecue sauce. Why? It’s so incredibly easy to make. And it’s also incredibly easy to make it uniquely yours by adding your favorite spices and seasonings. Heck, even liquor. (Hickup). Here’s an easy and tasty one for you to try and adapt to make your own.
Poached chicken looks rather naked compared to a beautifully browned roasted hen. Add some spring baby vegetables to the pot and Henrietta Hen arrives at the table adorned with beautiful, edible bling.
When visiting the Queener Fruit Farm I was inspired by the sight of their huge, luscious peaches hanging on the trees waiting for Tommie to test its readiness to be harvested, I went beyond devouring them hand to mouth to incorporating these luscious beauties in a chicken dish. I remembered seeing a recipe on The Pioneer Woman Cooks using whiskey, barbecue sauce and peach preserves. Now the whole inspiration was complete.
The first time Charles brought home eggs purchased from some of his real-estate buddies, Karen Owen, who kept a few hens on their acreage seemed like it was almost a year ago. Since then, we’ve fallen in love with the eggs she provides us. With bright red yolks, like the sun. Tasty, buttery, creamy. Yes. Store-bought eggs will no longer do. Our love of these eggs led us to go visit Karen to meet the chickens, in a “Portlandia” moment.
I thought of this dish and my brief childhood sojourn in Singapore recently when I learned that a wonderful friend, a witty Singaporean now living with her charming husband in New York City, was coming through the Northwest on a tour to promote her new book, “A Tiger in the Kitchen,” a memoir about her experience reconnecting with her Singaporean roots and family by travelling home to learn her family recipes. I wish I had time to prepare the dish for Cheryl and Mike, but our visit was brief but fun.
“Why I love this recipe. This is a recipe that can be either a breakfast dish or a dessert at the end of a meal. The flavor can be ramped up w/the amount of brandy you chose to add.
I enjoy it for it’s flavor but also because it was my first attempt to enter a cooking contest. It was fun to challenge myself and come up w/my own concoction….it’s just another form of creative art for me.” Ginny Renaud
Buttermilk pie originally hails from England. Today the deep south stakes claim as its home with Texas bestowing more love on it than most. A custard of buttermilk, eggs, butter and sugar baked in a pie shell is a simple pleasure, no pretentiousness here. However, there is elegance in its simplicity. The tangy tartness of the buttermilk shines through if you don’t drown it in sugar. Sometimes a little lemon zest can add additional brightness.
It seems like in every movie set in Italy, inevitably one of the characters will end up being seduced by one of those famous Italian delectable frozen treats: a granita or gelato. In “Under the Tuscan Sun” a character that Diane Lane plays runs into a blonde bombshell walking along a cobblestone market street, consuming a gelato as if she were making love to one of those muscular hunky descendents of Roman gods. On a hot summer day, there’s nothing more satisfying than diving into a scoop of icy granita. And if you’ve got an ice-cream maker they’re simple to make and the lack of cream means that they’ll freeze quickly. And on a hot summer day, there’s nothing more quenching than watermelon or cantaloupe. In Oregon, we count the days until the watermelon and cantaloupe start arriving from Hermiston. Hermiston watermelon and cantaloupe granita are a perfect way to quench your thirst as well as douse that summer heat.
When we lived in Texas, one of the things that signaled the arrival of summer was the appearance of peaches at the farmers market. In Oregon, we look for the arrival of cherries. Sweet. Red. Juicy.
For berry lovers, it’s heaven when summer arrives in Oregon and cherries, blueberries and marionberries flood the farmers markets and stores. People swarm to the fruit stands like fruit flies. But like all good things, you have to enjoy it while you can. The cherry season is short, if sweet. So here’s a delicious cherry ice cream recipe to try. It’s sure to leave you with cherry-stained smiles.
There’s nothing more distinctive about Oregon than the coffee-crazed culture here. And what could be more signature Portland than a marriage of coffee and spirits? Just leave it to the creative folks behind Portland’s Distillery Row, a handful of innovative small distilleries who are making handcrafted, locally distilled spirits in the inconspicuous neighborhood of small warehouses and light industrial buildings in Southeast Portland known as the lower east-side industrial district. With more than twenty unique liquors, the six independent distilleries make everything from vodkas, gins, rums and whiskeys, to the more specialized spirits such as absinthe, aquavit and flavored liqueurs. And now they’re brewing up distinctive batches of coffee-flavored spirits.
Tomatoes are sometimes called pommes d’amour in France. Some say because it is related to a Biblical plant called the mandrake or love plant which was rumored to be an aphrodisiac. (Hmmmm, there was considerable begetting documented in Genesis.) Some early tomatoes were called pomodoro for their golden yellow color. The Aztecs called it xitomatl, meaning “plump thing with a navel.”
A few weeks ago, during a warm spell and a flash of inspiration, as well as a flashback to my childhood in Bangkok, I was inspired to make lemongrass soda. This weekend, with my 46th birthday party looming, I made some more of the lemongrass simple syrup to serve, but instead of just splashing it into soda over ice, I decided to shake things up a little and experiment with adding the lemongrass syrup to gin, shaking it in a cocktail shaker and serving it in a martini glass garnished with a kaffir lime leaf. YUMMY!
Why had I not thought of this before?
The ginger ale soft drink as we know it is a descendant of many generations of ginger drinks probably originating in Eastern Europe. Some were alcoholic and some were not, and I’ll bet virtually all delivered a kick and personality you won’t find in the high-fructose corn syrup versions available at most supermarkets. This homemade one will not disappoint. Three kickers in the form of ginger, lemongrass and chiles tamed with sugar and water make for an exotic, energizing, cooling and healthful refreshment.
When the weather turns cool, fortified wines such as Port make wonderful fireside sippers and there are a few Oregon wineries that have been experimenting with Port-style wines with great success.
One of the wonderful things about living in Oregon and having friends who enjoy wine is that we all love to talk about our favorite wines and recommend them to others. You can’t be blind to the overwhelming love and devotion to pinot noir, pinot gris and riesling in Oregon, but there are many of [...]
It’s amazing to consider how much of the world market share of wine that Australia has grown to capture in the past decade. I thought about that lately when browsing the wine aisle of our neighborhood Winco and noticed how many value-priced wines from Australia were crowding the shelves. According to data from the World [...]
If you enjoy white wines, particularly fruit-forward wines that are highly aromatic with floral notes, Viognier, a grape variety common in France’s Rhone region, may just be what you’re looking for. Although the acreage planted with Viognier grapes in Oregon (a mere 210 acres in 2011 according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture) makes it [...]
Mai-fun noodles are perfect to serve cold, their delicate texture takes on the flavor of sauces easily and these thin noodles are refreshing chilled and served with julienned vegetables such as cucumber and carrot. Add refreshing bean sprouts and you have the basis for a summertime noodle salad. And what about a dressing? Something sweet, salty and tangy like the Vietnamese nuoc cham sauce is perfect for a dish like this. It’s light and refreshing. All you need to do is add a little meat. I love the flavors of cumin and paprika and created a marinade for pork that reminds me of Moroccan flavors so I christened it Morrocan pork. Quickly seared in a cast-iron pan and then sliced into thin pieces, the pork makes a wonderful addition to the salad.
I grew up in the Dallas/Fort Worth part of Texas and am familiar with the scorching heat that bakes Texans and much of the mid-west in the simmer summer months.
Putting food on the family table in the blistering heat of summer requires some advance planning. If cooking is necessary, it’s best done early in the day or outdoors. A cold shrimp remoulade salad fills you up with cooling, crunchy ingredients.
Enter your email address below to receive updates each time we publish new content.
Duck Braised with Oranges and Peaches in Riesling — Cunard à l’Orange et Pêches
I’ve had a soft spot for duck. Peking duck, duck noodle soup, duck confit. Ooo la la. It’s no wonder I ended up in a state where one of the universities has a duck for a mascot.
One of my favorite ways to serve duck is to sear it in pork fat (aka lard) and then braise it in red wine. For a change of pace and since I had duck à l’orange on my mind on this occasion, I decided to use Riesling instead and add orange slices as well as preserved peaches, since peaches aren’t in season yet. This dish may be inspired by duck à l’orange, but unlike that dish, this one is easy to prepare and equally rewarding to your taste buds.
Duck Legs Braised in Pinot Noir with Roasted Pears and Cipollini Onions
“Tonight: Pinot Noir Braised Duck Legs with Roasted Pears and Onions” I wrote in my status quote on Facebook. Friends as far away as Texas declared they could be here by dinner time. Jane Owen, oboist with the Fort Worth Symphony and frequent spokesperson for the duck in Peter and the Wolf, sounded ready to make the trek if only her orchestra schedule would allow. Gail Cook, arts aficionado and book reviewer, was nursing an injured foot and requested special pampering in the form of room service. Would that I could! Alas, in the next few hours 23 commentators had joined the trail.
Upon deciding to write an article about Crater Lake and the food we enjoyed there, I knew I wanted to locate some huckleberries, even though the season had just passed. I called D Loos, the produce manager at the Roth’s Vista Market here in Salem, to see if he could help. I told him I needed only a quart. D returned my call promptly and said I could have my huckleberries tomorrow afternoon. Great news! We’re having huckleberry pie this weekend.
When I was notified that my prize had arrived, I ecstatically went to fetch them. (Note to self: Always ask the price when placing a special order. My pie filling was going to cost me $13.99 a pound. Ouch!)
Sautéed Carrots, Sugar Snap Peas with Wilted Watercress
Two of my favorite vegetables to eat raw are carrots and sugar snap peas. When I’m in search of a simple side dish that’s nutritious and healthy to boot, I will lightly sauté thinly sliced carrots in some butter or olive oil, toss in some sugar snap peas, and then turn off the heat and add water cress and stir in the hot pan until the water cress wilts. When water cress wilts, it retains its slighly bitter bite, but the cooking brings out a sweetness that you don’t notice when it’s raw. Then I’ll drizzle a little champagne vinegar, toss and serve.
Roasted Parsnips, Carrots and Delicata Squash Tossed with Sautéed Mustard Greens
For those of you making a mad dash to the grocery store because you’ve procrastinated until now to deal with your Thanksgiving dinner, this is probably too late for you, but if you’re tired of yams and mashed potatoes, there’s nothing that says fall to me more than some under-appreciated root vegetables like parsnips and beets. Add some delicata squash, a wonderfully sweet squash that beats out acorn squash, with it’s edible skin, the old carrot stand-by and toss in olive oil and garlic seasoning and pop in the oven and before you know it, you’ll have a wonderful melange of flavors that screams fall is here and enjoy the bounty.
Garlic-tossed Sweet Potato and Beet Fries— Fall’s Sweet Treat
It’s fall. Chilly nights. Rainy days. Movie night at home requires a throw blanket, a warm fireplace a chick flick or buddy flick to warm the heart, and a switch from a glass of white wine or amber beer to a glass of hearty red wine or a stout beer. What to do for finger food? Forget the popcorn or bag of chips. Savor the sweet flavors of fall with sweet potato and beet fries, kicked up a notch by tossing with garlic seasoning.
Savory Oregon country-style pâté
I’ve always had a fascination with pâté. There are so many variations, from dense to creamy, but they all have that rich flavor in common. You can also make pâté from a variety of foods, including ground pork, chicken livers, vegetarian ingredients like mushrooms and lentils, and then there’s foie gras. Now before you start [...]
There was a time when I didn’t need a reason to drive to Portland for a casual visit or just to enjoy a day in our area’s most accessible metropolis. Gas was cheap – well, at least it was under $2 a gallon, and I could leisurely drive the 40 or so miles and cruise around town for less than $10. Now I usually wait until I have at least three reasons to make the trip, except for one recent Saturday. I desperately wanted some fresh salmon roe to play with…fuel costs be damned!
Salmon Tartare – As Fresh As It Gets and Another Reason to Pop Open Some Chilled Bubbly
While I was assembling my list of supporting ingredients, I had a liberating epiphany. Kick your fear in its hiney and then while staring at your beautiful raw salmon, see what flavors you imagine mingling among your chopped fish. Something Asian – wasabi and toasted sesame oil. Something with a kick – finely minced jalapeños. Something fresh – scallions. Something familiar – olive oil. Something with a citrus bite – lime zest. Something unusual – alder wood smoked salt. Voila! Salmon Tartare according to Charles.
Goldie Lox and Four Friends – our little Goldie shuns her three bears and dresses up with four strong flavored condiments: Soft Scrambled Eggs with Lox, Red Onion, Capers, Chives and Cream Cheese
My Last Date with Oeufs en Meurette ♥ An Affair to Remember
Scandal in the valley! Indiscriminate crushes with vineyards here and yon! Wonton knowledge of a Seattle dish known to hang out near Pikes Place Market. Can Her Humpty Dumptyness be made whole again?
“How do you like your eggs in the morning? Boiled or fried I’m satisfied as long as I get my kiss.” From a vintage Dean Martin recording.
Among all of their guises, I believe that poached eggs are the most seductive. Some chefs deep fry poached eggs to add texture to their soft exterior. Many more simply dress them up as stars on a menu than can be served from breakfast, through brunch all the way to a late night, post-theater dinner.
Open-face Buffalo Stew Sandwich — It’s Boffo!
The weather in the Mid-Willamette Valley has turned cool and wet again. It’s the perfect weather to light a fire in the fireplace, turn on some relaxing music and cozy up to a serving of hot stew and a glass of pinot noir.
Pork Hocks Slow-braised in Sweet Dark Soy Sauce and Star Anise
I’m convinced that there are spices that can make you high. I can be roaming the streets of Portland, Vancouver, B.C., Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and my hair will start to vibrate and stand on end when I get that first whiff of star anise in the air. My heartbeat quickens. My sweat glands go into overdrive. I start blinking uncontrollably, as my mind disconnects from my body and my feet start searching for the source of the heavenly aroma. Pungent, sweet, savory. Like licorice but more intoxicating. It’s a key ingredient in one of my favorite Thai dishes of ethnic Chinese origins, a stew of hard-boiled eggs, sweet dark soy sauce and pork hocks, that is flavored with star anise and cinnamon.
A Hearty Asian-Style Vegetable Stew — For Those Days When You Just Can’t Eat Another Bite of Meat
It doesn’t happen frequently, but every now and then I just can’t bear to eat another meal of chicken, beef, pork or seafood. On those occasions when Mom’s in charge of the meal and asks what we want for dinner, I’ll say Kang Chup Chay, or our family’s version of a hearty Asian-style vegetable stew.
Cold mai-fun noodle salad with nuoc cham dressing and pan-seared Moroccan pork
Mai-fun noodles are perfect to serve cold, their delicate texture takes on the flavor of sauces easily and these thin noodles are refreshing chilled and served with julienned vegetables such as cucumber and carrot. Add refreshing bean sprouts and you have the basis for a summertime noodle salad. And what about a dressing? Something sweet, salty and tangy like the Vietnamese nuoc cham sauce is perfect for a dish like this. It’s light and refreshing. All you need to do is add a little meat. I love the flavors of cumin and paprika and created a marinade for pork that reminds me of Moroccan flavors so I christened it Morrocan pork. Quickly seared in a cast-iron pan and then sliced into thin pieces, the pork makes a wonderful addition to the salad.
Eating Cool – Shrimp Remoulade Salad
I grew up in the Dallas/Fort Worth part of Texas and am familiar with the scorching heat that bakes Texans and much of the mid-west in the simmer summer months.
Putting food on the family table in the blistering heat of summer requires some advance planning. If cooking is necessary, it’s best done early in the day or outdoors. A cold shrimp remoulade salad fills you up with cooling, crunchy ingredients.
A caprese salad is so utterly simply that if you don’t use the best quality ingredients and tomatoes in their absolute prime, it will be ordinary at best. NOW, late summer is the ideal time when tomatoes are in their splendor.
Only three main ingredients are required – Tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella. Although usually served as an anti pasta, this salad makes a stellar light entrée if served with some fine salami and a baguette.
Nowadays, you don’t have to go foraging for mussels at the beach. Farm-raised mussels are so common that fresh mussels are available at most grocery stores year-round. One of my favorite ways to prepare them is in a Thai style with peppers, basil and a sweet and salty sauce. You can make it a starter or part of a meal by pairing it with another stir fry.
The Thai Bite is a celebration of food and culture
A little rain didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of hundreds of people who came to satisfy their appetite for Thai food and culinary adventure Sunday at Wat Buddha Oregon, the Thai Buddhist Temple nestled in the woods in Turner. For a donation into the collection boxes that lined the food tables, visitors got to sample such [...]
Tacos have become such a part of mainstream American cuisine that on the West Coast other ethnic groups have begun topping the ubiquitous corn tortilla with their cultural culinary specialties. Forget the fish taco, ground beef taco, or shredded beef taco. Their time has come and gone. In Los Angeles and Seattle you can find Vietnamese and Korean food-truck chefs who are creating the latest taco sensations: Korean barbecue and Kimchi tacos, Bulgogi tacos, Vietnamese lemongrass chicken tacos. I mean, when you see a dozen kinds of tacos available in the neighborhood supermarket, and Taco Bells show up in China, what would you expect, right? The taco is ripe for a cultural hijacking. And so this native Thai decided that the time was ripe for….ta da…a Thai taco.
Pan-fried Razor Clams — A Trip to Sunset Beach Pays Off
Love of razor clams will make you go to great lengths if you’re an outdoor adventurer. It drove Mom and me to get up at 3:30 a.m. recently on one of my days off in order to pick up friends Tina and Allison Martin and head out on the three-hour drive from Salem to Sunset Beach, north of Seaside, Oregon, in time to get there for the minus low tide at 7:30 a.m. I can’t remember the last time I got up at 3:30 a.m. Nor can I remember the last time I drove 125 miles to catch dinner.
Taking the Roads Less Traveled, with Spectacular Results
Sometimes it pays off to explore the roads less traveled in Oregon. You never know what magnificent vistas await you. Today, we explored National Forest Service Road 2212, in the Willamette National Forest, and were rewarded with magnificent views of Mt. Jefferson and Detroit Lake.
A Gluten-free Culinary Adventure on the Rogue River
Celiac disease and gluten allergies don’t have to limit you from enjoying the outdoors and camping. One outdoor adventure company, ROW, has created a special culinary Rogue River rafting trip that provides gluten-free meals during the three-day rafting adventure.
Mahonia Vineyard making mark in Portland
I had the pleasure recently of visiting with John Miller, owner of Mahonia Vineyard, and Travis Henry, Mahonia’s vice president who handles sales and marketing, and getting a chance to learn more about their operation and their wines. This small producer in South Salem has been growing and making wonderful wines for more than 20 [...]
Unoaked Oregon chardonnays let delicate flavors shine
Sometime in the past couple of years, I’ve come to appreciate drinking chardonnays that aren’t drenched in oak, which can mask some of the more delicate flavor notes of chardonnay. Fermenting in oak can add a golden color and flavors of butterscotch or toast to the wine. But with shifting American palates, more and more [...]
Portland event Monday showcases Spanish wines
I usually limit the topic of my wine column to Oregon wines, but since this rare occasion to learn more about Spanish wines is happening in Portland, I’m giving myself some leeway. Wine from Spain is hosting Great Match Portland, a dynamic evening full of wine tasting and seminars that highlight Spanish wines and winemaking [...]
Pork Fat Rules! Here’s an easy way to render pork fat, complete with video
There are occasions when you’re cooking that nothing can surpass rendered pork fat. You’ll be amazed at how much more flavorful your hash browns are, or any potato for that matter, when cooked in pork fat. Or how robust your sauteed green beans will be. Or delectable your collard greens. Or how flaky your pie crust will be. Or how rich your quail or pheasant will taste when seared in pork fat. Instead of buying commercially available lard bricks at the store, I prefer to render pork fat myself. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to do, and how long it can keep in the refrigerator in a mason jar.
Video: Have an Adventure Cutting Your Christmas Tree in the Mountains
For $5 you can get a BLM Christmas tree cutting permit and have an adventure cutting your own tree in the Willamette National Forest.
Domaine Drouhin Oregon — Beautiful Pinot Noirs and Chardonnay
Parlez-vous français? No? Well, that’s OK. English is perfectly fine at Domaine Drouhin Oregon, the U.S. outpost of the famed Maison Joseph Drouhin of Beaune, France. According to Domaine Drouhin, the first seeds for what would become Domaine Drouhin Oregon were sown in 1961. Robert Drouhin, head of Burgundy’s legendary Maison Joseph Drouhin, was visiting [...]
Elk Cove Vineyards in Gaston has a beautiful setting and focuses on making excellent pinot noir and pinot gris. It’s La Bohème Pinot Noir has been served twice at the White House during President Clinton’s term.
Commonly known as Sisters, but properly named Three Sisters, these three volcanic peaks of the Cascade Range each exceeds 10,000 ft in elevation. They are the third, fourth and fifth highest peaks in Oregon and are located in the Three Sisters Wilderness, about 15 miles southwest of the town of Sisters, Oregon. The three peaks were originally named Faith, Hope and Charity by early settlers but the names didn’t stick.
