Summer Camp For Grownups: Eat, Drink, Learn
No, Day Two of this camp in Seattle started with Bloody Marys and shots of Aquavit to accompany a Scandinavian breakfast of smoked trout, buttery lox made with Alaksan King Salmon and Swedish pancakes. Then, half the campers settled into their seats to watch chef Tom fabricate a pig, a rabbit and a squab while the other half headed into the kitchen for a veggie-centric cook-off.
Lucky me! I got to spend a mighty filling day at this popular event, the fourth annual, sold-out extravaganza. The action-packed day included a lineup of demos, a culinary guessing game (today's was name that root veggie) and a cooking competition. The guest chefs for Monday's demos have superstar credentials: Vikram Vij from Vij's in Vancouver, Holly Smith, a Tom Douglas alum who has a James Beard award hanging in her restaurant, Cafe Juanita and Duskie Estes from Zazu in Sonoma County. Chef Duskie also helped write Tom's Seattle Kitchens cookbook.
We watched chef Vikram prepare a savory jackfruit, one of the signature dishes from his restaurant (where patrons often wait hours for a table; the restaurant has a no reservations policy), as well as the Indian version of bouillabaisse and family-style chicken curry. He salts food at the end because the spices in curry have a natural salty quality. A great tip. He also predicted the next big thing in food will be eating bugs! He has made flour from ground crickets! It's high in protein.
Chef Holly showed us how to make the most perfect risotto. "You don't have to baby it," she said. She seared foie gras and finished it with cherries and candied ginger and said she believes in freedom of choice when it comes eating that controversial food. "Why isn't there more outrage about factory farms?" she wondered.
Chef Duskie, whose restaurant has a real-life farm out back, prepared caramelized popcorn with bacon bits, Vin Santo braised rabbit and, the sweet finale, peanut butter gelato sandwiched between peanut butter cookies and a chocolate dipping sauce.
We got tastes of all these incredible edibles, paired with lovely wines. I came home with the recipes, inspired to try and DIY.
-- Leslie Kelly
shirewoman2 on July 14, 2010 at 03:05 PM
Summer camp never sounded so tasty! What fun! I want to go next year! But I have to say that I am decidedly NOT interested in eating bug flour. :-)