Fuller on Food: Nothing like win country and comfort food
Wednesday, November 8, 2006 7:29 AM PST
By Don Fuller, columnist
Printable version
E-mail this articleSince we have lived in the Northwest, Judy and I have often celebrated our late October wedding anniversary with a trip to a popular wine region.
We've been to several of California’s best-known wine regions as well as those in Washington and Oregon. This year we went to Walla Walla and the Tri-Cities area to visit one of Washington’s best known wine appellations. We were there a number of years ago but were eager to get reacquainted.
I also have the romantic notion that producing good wine attracts quality restaurants and good food, so we always look forward to finding great places to eat.
Our plan was to stay at motels that offered a breakfast, pack some apples and cheese for lunches, and select a restaurant for dinner after discussing possibilities with the personnel in the wine tasting rooms.
In Walla Walla, many of the tasting rooms are not at the wineries, but in the city itself. At the Waterbrook winery, however, we visited the on-site tasting room. The young man who managed the tasting gave us a rundown on the best places to eat in Walla Walla and a great place to buy cheeses and salamis.
Another wine-tasting couple enthusiastically endorsed one of his recommendations. Since we were celebrating our anniversary that day, we decided that we would look at the menus before we looked at the prices. After a trip around the city reading posted menus, we were disappointed to find the place recommended at the tasting by our fellow tasters had not posted a menu and was not yet open.
We went back to our motel to dress for dinner. I called the restaurant, Backstage Bistro, to inquire about its menu. The person I talked to bubbled with enthusiasm. Yes, they had steaks, lamb, and special barbecued meats.
We went -- and were not disappointed. Our steaks were tender, juicy and cooked to perfection. The salad was creative, and sides of mashed potatoes and green beans complemented the steaks.
The next morning, we went to the Salumiere Cesario shop where we bought a Belgian soft cheese and some very thinly sliced salami for our picnic that day. The day was beautiful, and when we found a winery with some picnic tables, we dined on the cheese, salami, and artesan bread.
We agreed that sitting here on the winery grounds, eating fine food and gazing out over the grapevines at the season's brilliant yellows and burgundy reds were moments to savor as long as we could.
This past week’s rain has made our time in eastern Washington even a greater gift for the celebration of our wedding anniversary.
Back at home, the rainy days have called out for comfort foods. This week, I am highlighting a chicken dish that is reminiscent of coq au vin, a French recipe that is simply braised chicken in a red wine with pork, onions, and vegetables. This recipe, however, uses white wine as its base liquid.
I made a few modifications to the original recipe that makes it more adaptable to our local groceries. I recommend serving it with mashed potatoes and a crisp white wine. We used a dry Riesling, but a pinot gris would also work very well.
Another comfort food for this time of year is an oatmeal cookie. Our neighbor Betty makes the best that we have ever tasted (and we've tasted quite a few). The cookies have just the right amount of chewiness and are filled with raisins, nuts and spices that just beg for a cup of coffee or a glass of milk.
Those comfort food recipes follow. I hope that they will help you fight the winter rains.
BRAISED CHICKEN THIGHS
(4-6 servings)
8 small white onions (boilers)*
6 bone-in, skin-on meaty chicken thighs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
8 ounces medium-sized mushrooms, trimmed and halved
3 ounces or 3 thick cut slices bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4ninch strips
1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced in 1/4-inch rounds
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
Bring a 2-quart saucepan of water to a boil. Drop in the onions and blanch them after they return to a boil about 1 minute. Drain into a strainer and cool them with cold water to stop cooking. Peel onions leaving enough of the root end intact to that they remain whole in cooking.
Season chicken thighs generously with salt and pepper. In a heavy dutch oven or an 11-inch ovenproof saute pan with lid, heat oil until simmering hot. Arrange chicken pieces skin side down in the pan, crowding them in one layer, and cook until both sides are nicely browned, about 12 minutes. Transfer thighs to a plate, and discard all fat.
Return the pan to the burner over medium heat, and add bacon, onions, and carrot rounds and cook until bacon is crisp and vegetables have some browning. Add mushrooms, thyme and wine. Boil until the wine has been reduced by one-half. Add chicken broth and return to a boil.
Return chicken pieces to pan, push into the liquid and cover. Transfer to oven and cook until chicken is fork tender, about 45 to 50 minutes. If onions are not tender, remove thighs to a serving bowl and cover with foil. Continue cooking for 5-10 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove bacon and vegetables to the serving bowl. Skim off any visible fat with a spoon. Bring to a boil. At this point, either pour the sauce over the chicken or thicken it with a 1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water. Place the thickened sauce in a sauce bowl to be passed separately from the chicken dish.
*Boiler onions are sometimes difficult to find or are too large (about golf ball size is best). Consider substituting pearl onions, often available in the frozen food section. Since they have already been blanched, simply thaw and add to the bacon and vegetable saute.
--- Adapted from Jennifer McLagan's recipe in Fine Cooking, December 2006
BETTY'S OATMEAL COOKIES
(Makes about five dozen cookies)
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or other shortening
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup raisin water
1 teaspoon soda
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons vanilla
In a small saucepan bring the 1/2 cup of water to a boil. Add raisins to the water, return to boil and remove from heat. Let cool and drain raisins saving 1/4 cup of the raisin water. Dissolve soda in the 1/4 cup water.
In an electric mixer, beat eggs, add sugars and shortening. Beat until well blended and fluffy. Add baking powder to flour then stir into sugar mixture. Beat until smooth.
Add oatmeal, raisins, and raisin water. Mix well. Add walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Mix until thoroughly blended.
Scoop a heaping tablespoon of cookie dough onto cookie sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. (Dough will not spread a lot.) Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. Shift cookies sheets and turn after about 6 minutes.
Don Fuller, an avid cook, retired as dean of instruction at Lower Columbia College in 1998. Readers can reach him in care of the paper at The Daily News, P. O. Box 189, Longview, WA 98632 or by e-mail at dfuller@teleport.com.
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