Tickling my Inner Caveman

By Deston Nokes

Rarely have I felt so conflicted on how to begin eating such a gorgeous mountain of lamb, pears and shallots. My inner Fred Flintstone wanted to grab the leg bone and gnaw with unrestrained relish, but the sophisticated ambiance of Portland’s Lauro Kitchen (www.laurokitchen.com), and my refined dinner companions kept my primitive urges in check.

We gathered to enjoy Braised Lamb Shank with Caramelized Pears and Shallots, which was created by Lauro Kitchen’s executive chef Jennifer Buehler. She recently received national acclaim for her artistry by the Pear Bureau Northwest. Chef Buehler is serving her winning recipe at Lauro Kitchen throughout March.

Our meal started with Cataplana, a tasty Portuguese seafood dish of roasted mussels, choriso, peppers, tomatoes and onions; finished in the Lauro Kitchen’s blue tile oven.

The lamb entrée came on a bed of couscous and was framed by carmelized red Anjou pears and shallots. Each bite of the tender meat brought a mouth-watering rush of spicy sweetness.

“It’s a Moroccan dish,” Buehler said. “I just strive to do the traditional dishes right – it’s not about fusion cuisine. The pears do provide a Pacific Northwest influence, and the tanginess is from the cranberries. The nutty flavor is from almonds and there are hints of saffron, ginger and cinnamon.

“I want the diners to wonder what they’re tasting. As you eat the dish, the different robust and sweet flavors are revealed.”

The lamb shank certainly was enough to capture the fancy of the Pear Bureau’s judges.

“It struck us as the quintesstial spring entree,” says Kevin Moffitt, president and CEO of Pear Bureau Northwest. “Her pairing of savory braised lamb shanks with sweet, carmelized pears is one of the best ways to enjoy a pear this spring.”

The recipe’s emphasis on pears is a natural for the region since Oregon and Washington pears account for 89 percent of the nation’s pears. The fruit’s primary plucking season is in August, but they are available year round. For more about the region’s pear industry, go to www.pearpanache.com.

Chef de Cuisine Jennifer Buehler has been cooking since she was a child in Independence, Missouri. After a quick stint in computer sales, Buehler returned to the kitchen, graduating from the Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Ore.

With Lauro Kitchen’s Mediterranean cuisine, Buehler can draw upon many different styles and ingredients to create elegant masterpieces. Started in 2003 by famed Portland chef and restaurant entrepreneur David Machado, the Lauro Kitchen was one of the first establishments to kick off Portland’s east side dining craze.

“David was always a downtown guy, operating Pazzo’s and Southpark, but he believed he could succeed by bringing the same high-end cuisine, with lower prices, to the east-side neighborhoods,” said Lindsey McBride, Portland food publicist.

“Years ago, we had very few dining options. One had to go downtown for a nice night out.”

(Lauro Kitchen is known for its hour of happiness menu Monday through Sunday from 5 – 6 p.m., which features select dishes at 2003 prices. The restaurant’s towering chalkboard also lists new specials each day: A special pizza, fresh fish, cocktails and dessert. Lauro Kitchen’s dedicated pastry chef, Nancy Forrest, absolutely blew us away with a chocolate caramel tart topped with sprinkles of sea salt. )

For more information:

Lauro Kitchen

3377 SE Division #106

Portland, OR 97202
Telephone: 503.239.7000

www.laurokitchen.com

About the author:

Deston Nokes wrote a new iPhone app: PORTLAND ESSENTIALS. It highlights the best things to see, do and eat in Portland. With 210 entries and more than 1,500 photos, it’s a delicious resource for those who live here, and for those coming to visit. Entries are listed by category and each links to a Web site and phone number. It includes cost and operating-hour information. Best of all, each has its own GPS to guide you right to the door. This new application is for sale on iTunes for only $2.99.

Braised Lamb Shank with Caramelized Pears and Shallots
by Chef de Cuisine Jennifer Buehler

SERVES 4 to 6

Braise

4         lamb shanks, preferably raised in Oregon, 16 to 20-ounces each

2         tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1         medium onion, roughly chopped

1         tablespoon finely chopped garlic

2         tablespoons finely chopped or grated fresh ginger

1-1/2   teaspoons saffron

1-1/2   teaspoons ground cinnamon

1-1/2   teaspoons ground ginger

1-1/2   teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

1/2      teaspoon cayenne pepper

4         bay leaves

1         cinnamon stick

1/2      cup whole almonds

2         quarts chicken stock

1/2      cup dried cranberries

Caramelized Pears and Shallots

1         ounces (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter

1         tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

8         small, whole shallots

2         Bosc pears, peeled, cored and sliced into 1/2″-thick wedges

1/4      cup granulated sugar

Couscous, as accompaniment

Parsley, to garnish

Plain yogurt, served on side

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare the lamb by seasoning liberally with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat the oil in a heavy, wide saute pan until it is very hot, but not smoking. Brown the lamb shanks 2 at a time, turning them so that each side is dark golden brown and crusty, about 12 minutes total. Remove the shanks from the pan.

Reduce the heat under the saute pan to medium high and add the onions, garlic and ginger. Cook stirring frequently until the onions begin to caramelize slightly and pick up the color and scrapings leftover from browning the meat, about 5 minutes. Put the shanks in a deep, wide casserole, or a roasting pan. They should fit closely, in a single layer, leaving enough room in the pan to be covered with stock. A lid that fits well is helpful.

Add the sauteed onion, garlic and ginger to the lamb shanks along with the saffron, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, black and cayenne peppers, bay leaves, cinnamon stick and almonds. Cover the shanks with the chicken stock adding a bit of water if necessary to cover them completely. Cover tightly and braise for about 3-1/2 hours, adding the dried cranberries during the last 30 minutes. The lamb should be very tender and falling off the bone.

To finish the sauce, melt the butter in a saute pan with the oil over medium heat. If the shallots are larger than a small walnut, peel and separate into as many cloves as possible, or trim the root end without removing it completely. Halve or quarter the larger shallots; the root will hold the layers together. Add shallots to the pan and saute gently until they begin to soften slightly, about 5 minutes. Add the pear slices and sugar and continue to saute until everything is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Add some chicken stock or water if the sugar begins to get dark.

Remove the lamb shanks from the braising liquid. Transfer the braising liquid to a separate saucepan (there should be about 6 cups), put the shanks back in the braising pan and keep them warm. Add the pears and shallots to the braising liquid and reduce slightly. It will already be fairly thick. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.

To serve, while the sauce is reducing, put the couscous on a larger platter and arrange the lamb shanks on top. Garnish with some pear slices and shallots and spoon the reduced sauce over the meat. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with plain yogurt on the side.

By Deston Nokes

Mt. Hood’s Timberline Lodge has long been known as Oregon’s second most-visited site after Multnomah Falls. Located on the face of Mt. Hood, just a stone’s throw from Portland, Timberline offers incredible year-round skiing, a rustic ambiance, and a top-notch culinary team.

Timberline Lodge is more than an iconic landmark. It’s a mountain cabin on a grand scale: decidedly rustic, warm and cozy beyond measure. Some may recall that its façade played a starring role as The Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s motion picture, The Shining.

“When Timberline was built during the Great Depression, the concept was to create a place for all of the people,” said Jon Tullis, Timberline spokesman. “The idea was to create ‘Oregon’s Mountain Home,’ and that feeling hasn’t changed one bit.”

But when the economic termites began eating away at the state’s tourism industry in 2008, even Timberline was hard hit. By October, the business downturn was so profound; the lodge had to close its dining room for lunch.

“We had to change our business model and find a way to ride the rising popularity of culinary tourism,” explained Leif Benson, CEC, AAC, Timberline’s executive chef of 30 years. “In Oregon we have incredible wines, meats, fish and produce; and at Timberline, we have the perfect background to showcase it all.”

After talking with different purveyors, Benson started the daily Farmer’s Market Brunch Buffet, which is a selection of distinctive Northwest cuisine every day in Timberline’s main lobby from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The region’s growers, producers and food industry advocates consult on the buffet offerings, and have found that the historic Timberline Lodge is a perfect setting to showcase their foods to a steady stream of culinary tourists.

Each day the brunch offers:

 A Chef’s Action Statio’ (carved or presented items)

• Fresh Farmer’s Market salads

• Chef’s daily soup

• Artisan bread

• Local produce

• Vegetable presentations

• Mesclun salad

• Desserts and pastries

• Made-to-order waffle station

This isn’t your run-of-the-mill, strip-mall buffet fare. So far, the brunch has showcased on strawberries, cherries, golden watermelons, sushi, lamb, hazelnuts, pink shrimp, Dungeness crab, albacore tuna, potatoes, pears and local coffee roasters.

“The menu changes all the time to emphasize the season’s bounty,” Benson said. “One week we’ll feature our mushroom foraging industry with chanterelle’s. Another week we’ll showcase artisan cheeses, wild game, Oregon wines or Northwest beef.”

The day I enjoyed brunch, the state’s potato growers were holding court, unveiling purple potato candy and other edible delights. My personal favorite was the lamb chops served by SuDan Lamb.

In one month, Timberline’s concept attracted 10,000 diners. Because of its success, the Farmer’s Market Brunch Buffet is now a daily, year-round event.

“It’s been a great way to get people to visit us ,” Benson said. “At Timberline, you enjoy the food and take away a memory.”

Celebrating what makes Oregon taste so good

Much of Timberline’s success is derived by its partnership with Oregon’s food and wine producers. Each August through November, the Oregon Tourism Commission, also known as Travel Oregon, launches Oregon Bounty, which is a comprehensive campaign to tantalize taste buds in all seven regions of the state.

The Oregon Bounty campaign, which continues until Nov. 30, offers special events and menus urging locals (and lucky visitors) to try new wines, enjoy local produce, order distinctive dinners in fine eateries and attend harvest festivals around the state.

The centerpiece of the campaign is a colorful, comprehensive Web site. At www.traveloregon.com, users can click on a region and surf specials in lodging, dining, festivals, wineries and breweries. It posts the fixed-price menus at participating restaurants. Also, there is an online recipe book using Oregon meats, fruits cheeses and nuts, all washed down with Oregon vintages.

Visit www.TravelOregon.com/Bounty for details.  Contact Deston at Deston@globalfoodie.com.

A Journey Around the State’s Eastern Reaches

By Susan McKee

In one day, you can sample top vintages from award-winning wineries and contemplate museum exhibits chronically the development of the atomic bomb. No doubt about it: there’s something for everyone in the southeastern corner of Washington State.

Washington State is more than its Pacific Coast with Seattle and Puget Sound. In its eastern half, you’ve entered another realm. Instead of the lush, green rainforest of the Pacific region, you’ll find the dry brown open spaces of the high desert.

Yet, this region is a viticultural paradise, one of the best areas in the country for growing grapes. Why? The latitude is the same as the great wine-growing regions of Burgundy and Bordeaux in France. The rich volcanic soil combines with long sunny days and cool nights and produces an environment great for grapes. And, perhaps most important, vineyards require less of that most precious of all desert commodities, water. (Although, apple trees and wheat fields are disappearing fast.)

The wineries in the area stretching from Yakima to Walla Walla rival the more established estates in adjacent Oregon. If you lunch at the Barrel House Wine Bar in Yakima, as I did, you can preview many of the labels glass by glass.

When I was in Washington, I tasted my way through quite a few wineries, although not all in one day! My favorites were: Claar Cellars, in Zillah; Washington Hills Winery in Sunnyside, located in a former creamery; Three Rivers Winery in Walla Walla; Hinzerling Winery, in Prosser (try the Lemberger); and the stunning chateau-style Hedges Cellars at Red Mountain in Benton City.

When you’re done sampling wines and ready for dinner, consider the Whitehouse-Crawford Restaurant in Walla Walla. In a renovated 1905 woodworking mill, it boasts an enormous wall of glass providing a clear view of the inner workings of the Seven Hills Winery, which occupies the remainder of the building.

Grapes aren’t the only tasty crop in eastern Washington — yet. They still grow some great fruit. I was there during cherry season, and eating ‘em the same day they’re picked can’t be beat. If you have a chance, stop at Chukar Cherry Company in Prosser and see what I mean.

TriCity History, Lore and More …

Hanford is known these days for two major sites: Hanford Engineer Works and Hanford Reach National Monument. The latter encompasses a 51-mile stretch of the Columbia River with its adjoining landscape of white bluffs, dunes and desert plateaus. Bird watchers and geologists alike are drawn to its pristine beauty, preserved because it served as a security buffer for what’s now called the Hanford Site of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Remember the bombs the United States dropped on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki? The Manhattan Project was started in New York, tested at the University of Chicago and developed at Hanford Engineer Works, which resulted in a spectacular and deadly climax to the conflict in the Pacific Theater of World War II.

Wandering through the Columbia River Exhibition History, Science & Technology Museum in Richland I was astonished to learn about the top secret work that was completed nearby, in what certainly back then was “the middle of nowhere,” by people who couldn’t even discuss what they were doing with their families. In fact, the TriCities area has much hidden history.

If Kennewick causes dormant synapses to fire in your brain, you’re probably remembering Kennewick Man, a 9,200-year-old skeleton. It surfaced there in 1996, setting off a battle over ownership that wasn’t resolved until 2004, when the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a cultural link between local Native American tribes and the skeleton was not met, allowing scientific study of the remains to continue. Kennewick began centuries ago as a Native American settlement (its name means “Winter Paradise”) and now serves as a retail center for the region.

Across the river, Pasco just finished its 15 minutes of 21st Century fame as a stop on the Lewis and Clark expedition, which camped here in October 1805. The modern settlement started in the 1880s as a railroad town – it was a division point on the Northern Pacific Railway on its transcontinental journey. Now it’s the largest city in the million-acre Columbia Basin Irrigation Project.

The third of the tri cities is Richland, where many of the employees at the Hanford Engineer Works and their families lived in what became known as the Alphabet Houses. This was a company town that had ballooned rapidly as the Manhattan Project grew during World War II and continued to flourish in the Cold War Era. Spokane architect G. A. Pehrson designed “cookie cutter” houses that could be erected rapidly, with the uniform floor plans separated into A, B, and C categories according to one’s rank within the company.

Not far away is Walla Walla, with two unique attractions: Mark A. Anderson’s Foundry and the Whitman Mission. The Foundry handles the technical stuff of sculpture. It takes the artist’s ephemeral creation and turns it into permanent form using an alchemy that’s fascinating to the observer. This unique workshop can produce bronze, of course, but also stainless steel, copper, fused glass, silver and more.

Watching skilled workmen translate Deborah Butterfield’s ethereal horses from the original open lattice of driftwood into bronze, for example, made me realize that expert casting and assembly was as crucial to the creative process as the original design.

Whitman Mission is right on the Oregon Trail. The National Park Service staff demonstrates frontier skills every weekend in the summer, including flint knapping, adobe brick making and writing with a quill pen. The mission takes its name from its 1830s founder, Dr. Marcus Whitman, who’s also the namesake for Whitman College, located in Walla Walla, which means the place of many waters.

When I returned to Seattle, wine remained on my mind. Driving a bit north of the city, I stayed in Woodinville at the Willows Lodge. There are tasting rooms for two wineries literally within walking distance – Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia. But, by then, I was all tasted out.

The hotel? Well, it was divine. But frustrating – because it turned out to be (literally) next door to the Herbfarm Restaurant, the only AAA five-diamond restaurant north of San Francisco – and, I couldn’t get in. They’re routinely booked up months in advance, and I was there on a weekend. Maybe next trip!

For more information on Washington State wineries visit:

www.washingtonwine.org
Telephone: 1-206-667-9463

The Barrel House
www.thebarrelhouse.net

Claar Cellars
www.claarcellars.com

Washington Hills Winery
www.washingtonhills.com

Three Rivers Winery
www.threeriverswinery.com

Hinzerling
www.hinzerling.com

Hedge Cellars
www.hedgescellars.com

White House Crawford Restaurant
www.whitehousecrawfordrestaurant.com

Chukar Cherries
www.chukar.com

Hanford Engineer Works
www.fws.gov/hanfordreach.com

Columbia River Exhibition Science and Technology
www.crest.org

TriCities
www.visittricities.com

Walla Walla
www.wallawalla.org

Mark A. Anderson Foundry
www.wallawallafoundry.com/fallery/WWFBrochure.pdf

Whitman House
www.nps.govwhmi

Dr. Marcus Whitman
www.whitman.edu/content

Willows Lodge
www.willowslodge.com

The Herb Farm Restaurant
www.theherbfarm.com

You may reach Susan McKee at Susan@globalfoodie.com.