Essence of Place - 8 weeks in Portland

with an option to add 4 additional weeks in France

I offer culinary training in Portland Oregon geared to cooks who want to change their skills and be on the path of becoming a chef. The curriculum, focused on regional French and Italian cooking, is based on local agriculture. The approach is intimate, hands-on and limited to 6 participants. 

Classes meet Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 3 PM

The next 8-week session begins September 8th

In  2009 8-week sessions begin

January 5th, March 9th, May 11th and September 7th

 

Evening courses are held on Mondays and Thursdays.

The schedule roughly parallels those of the 8-week sessions.

One session called Course by Course is and introduction to the foundations of French food, is focused on the elements of a menu and is designed to build skills and techniques. 

A second session entitled Workshop on Menus follows up where Course by Course leaves off. Students learn to apply new techniques and skills, and to broaden their focus to include the development of a whole menu.

Both evening sessions include a light meal with wine tasting. Each run for 6 sessions, once a week.

The tuition for each session is $475. For more information email Robert Reynolds at robeirt@comcast.net

SORREL PANNA COTTA

Robert Reynolds

Week 3. We’re making a panna cotta with sorrel that is breath taking. I went back to the book I wrote with Josephine Araldo FROM A BRETON GARDEN because I remembered she had a recipe for sorrel but forgot the details. Her recipe calls for making jelly flavored with ginger and lime. “Dude,” I thought, she did that a century ago! So we took off on our adventure, and the results were show stopping.

I’ve become enchanted with the idea of savory panna cotta. We’ve done them with cucumber, flavored with mustard and tons of herbs. They’re like little contained salads and you just know they’re the perfect summer food.

We’re enthralled by experimenting. Vitaly Paley asked us to test recipes for his new book THE PALEY PLACE COOKBOOK that goes to press next week. It is due for release in September/October. (It’s available by pre-order from Amazon.) Recipe testing has helped me depart from the regular agenda of the 8-week course at the Chef Studio so we stretch our thinking, have fun, and get to enjoy amazing food.

1-1/2 teaspoons gelatin

3 tablespoons cold water

½ cup organic whole milk

1 inch piece of ginger, grated fine

1 cup sorrel leaves, stems removed

Grated rind of 1 lime

Juice of half a lime

Pinch of salt

1-cup excellent quality heavy cream

8 ¼ cup ramekins, lightly oiled with flavorless oil

Bloom the gelatin by mixing thoroughly with cold water and leave to set for 5 minutes. Scald the milk along with the ginger. Strain it over the gelatin; discard the ginger. Immediately pour the hot liquid into the blender, add the sorrel leaves and liquefy. Remove to a utility bowl, adding the lime rind, salt and lime juice to taste. When cool, (about 5 minutes) add the cream, mixing well. Divide the mixture among the ramekins and refrigerate for 2 hours until set. Garnish with a few lettuce leaves, dressed lightly with lemon and olive oil, topped with grated carrots, dressed similarly.

The next 8-week session of the advanced classes at the Chef Studio will begin 8 September, and is followed by the opportunity to continue in Gascony in france for 4 additional week beginning 10 November. Visit www.robertreynolds.wordpress.com

Perhaps growing up in Boston gave me a love of beans. Ayer’s Creek Farm at the Hillsdale Sunday market sells beans that remind me of the ones I also got over the years while living in the Southwest of France. Those beans, from Tarbes, are so good they lend the town part of its identity. The white beans from Ayer’s Creek are perfect, plump and flavorful.

 

Pretty soon we’re going to leave dry legumes behind as the progress of the seasons begins to provide us with fresh, local vegetables in their place. I’m already a little reluctant to leave the wintry comfort of the dry beans behind. I have the feeling I haven’t seen, tasted, or experienced everything from them, even though I’ve eaten lentils as many ways as I can, and enjoyed them all. Also, I haven’t abused Cassoulet by making, or eating it so many times that it becomes banal.

 

I prepared a version of dry beans at the Chef Studio today to accompany a roasted chicken. I was inspired by the cooking of La Tupina, a mythic restaurant in old Bordeaux that I love. The idea for the dish simply calls for a mixture of basic vegetables, carrots, leeks, onions, and fat cloves of garlic. There are a couple of ways to begin depending on the fat used to saute. Duck fat imparts a particularly good taste. Or, the pancetta in the dish, cooked crisp outside, and creamy inside, also lends its own distinction. In either case the vegetables are sauteed until soft and sweet before adding the beans, along with good home-made chicken stock. My final gesture was to tuck branch of fresh thyme in with the beans, and allow the pot to simmer for an hour or so while the beans yield texture and taste.

 

Salting legumes before they’re cooked makes them take on water faster than they can efficiently absorb it, and causes them to split. For that reason I wait for the beans to be completely soft and creamy before I season with salt.

 

The finished dish would be particularly good with a glass of a Bordeaux blend from southern Oregon. Bill and Deb Hatcher’s Night and Day is made with an eccentric blend that seems an improvement of the original idea. Sip it, taste the food, and wait for the next life-giving, soft Spring rain.

 

SOUP MADE WITH BEANS

 

2 or 3 tablespoons duck fat

½ cup pancetta, cut in ¼-inch matchsticks

2 carrots, peeled and cut in ½-inch dice

2 leeks, whites only, split, rinsed, and julienned at an angle

1 small onion, peeled, halved, and cut in ½ inch dice

3 cloves garlic, peeled, and flattened under the blade of a knife.

1 pound large white beans

6 cups good home-made chicken stock

1 branch fresh thyme

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

 

Melt the fat in a heavy bottomed soup pot. Add the pancetta and saute until it turns light golden. Add the carrots, leeks, and onions. Toss in the flattened garlic and saute everything on a slow flame until the vegetables soften and begin to color.

 

Add the beans, along with the stock and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook, partially covered, until the beans are tender, about 1 hour for the Ayer’s Creek beans. Adjust the flavor with salt, and give a grinding of pepper before serving with a good crusty bread. Drink a Bordeaux blend from southern Oregon, such as Night and Day from Hatcher Wine Works.

While you’re here, check the schedule for the next available class offerings.

Visit the Chef Studio student blog
http://chefstudioschool.wordpress.com/

it was created by glass artist, and former student

Blake van Roekel

BECOMING A COOK

 

I offer three levels of classes devoted to the study of cooking. One series, called Course by Course, meets once a week for 8 weeks on Thursday nights from 6 to 9 pm. There is room for ten participants. The next session begins March 20th. Cost for the series is $480.

 

Another series, entitled Workshop on Menus, takes the idea of isolated recipes and demonstrates how to string them together to create a harmony that derives from following soil, season, and culture. There are six sessions, only six participants, and we meet Monday evenings from 6 to 9 pm. The next session begins March 24. Series cost: $450.

 

The third series called Sense of Place, is a full-time course that meets Mondays through Fridays, from 9 am to 3 pm, and continues for 8 weeks. This is the course I taught in France for over 20 years, and designed it to be like the way I studied cooking when I trained with Madeleine Kamman in France in 1980. It’s meant to help make up for the fact that you didn’t grow up French. When I took the course, it gave me sufficient understanding and skill to allow me to open a restaurant in San Francisco. Over the 15 years it existed, it developed a mythic reputation. An 8-week course provides sufficient knowledge for those with the desire to accomplish similar ambitions. The next series begins March 17th, and runs through the beginning of May. The following session will begin mid May. For further information, email robeirt@comcast.net.

A HUNDRED BITES OF GOOD FORTUNE  

Here are two good ideas to help feed the body and nourish the soul as you mark the movement from one year to the next. Gather and celebrate what good has visited your life over the past year.

GOAT CHEESE LOG WITH LENTILS

by Robert Reynolds

1 cup French lentils from Puy, rinsed

1 branch celery, cut into thirds

1 branch, fresh thyme

3 bay leaves

4 ounce soft French goat cheese

1 or 2 tablespoons of crème, or crème fraiche, as needed

Put the lentils in a pan, cover with water, add the celery, thyme and bay. Bring to a boil, turn to a simmer, and cook until they are just tender but haven’t split, about 20 minutes. Drain, reserve the liquid, and serve it later like consomme, garnished with minced garlic, chopped parsley and a drizzle of excellent olive oil.

When the lentils have cooled to room temperature, season them with salt. Mix the cream into the goat cheese if it seems too dry to accept the lentils. Fold the lentils into the soft goat cheese without destroying their shape. Re-form the cheese into a log. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate to set. Spread the lentils and cheese onto toasted slices of baguette, and serve them to accompany a green salad tossed with vinaigrette made with walnut oil and lemon juice. Enjoy the singular well-being the dish provides accompanied by a Sauvignon blanc from Bordeaux.

  

LAMB AND BEAN SOUP WITH CHICORY

by Robert Reynolds

1 cup dry beans, Solider beans, haricots secs, or a plump heirloom legume

6 cups water

3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon of dry thyme

1 branch of celery, cut in three pieces

no salt

The night before preparing the dish, soak the beans overnight in cold water. Drain. Put the beans in a pot, cover with stock and bring to a boil, adding the remaining ingredients. Skim any foam that rises, then simmer the beans until tender, just short of splitting, about 2 hours. Strain the cooked beans, and save the bean water. Discard the celery stalks and bay leaves.

1 tablespoon of duck fat, olive, or canola oil

1 small red onion, cut in a small dice

salt

Whole cloves from 1 head of garlic, peeled

2 lamb shoulder chops, trimmed of fat, and cut into ¾ inch cubes

½ cup excellent Roma tomatoes, San Marzano, Muir Glen

1 cup excellent home made chicken, or duck stock

Cooked beans, above.

1 head of chicory, rinsed, blanched tender, drained and chopped

Melt the duck fat in a 2 quart saucepan, add the diced onion, a pinch of salt and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the cloves, cook another minute without browning. Add the lamb pieces, and cook 3 or 4 minutes, until the meat is seared and loses its raw color. Add the tomato, stir, then add the stock. Bring to a boil, turn to a simmer and cook until the liquid is reduced by half, about 1 hour. Taste the broth and season with a teaspoon of salt. Add the cooked beans and continue cooking at a simmer another 30 minutes. Add the chicory and cook long enough to heat everything through. Ladle into flat soup bowls. Drink a Syrah from the Southwest of France, the Rhone Valley, or the Central Coast of California.

Eat and prosper.

                                                                                              

Visit www.thechefstudio.com to view Robert’s new schedule of classes. They range from one day, to evening series, and to a course of study of up to two months duration.

Robert will host an Open House for candidates interested in culinary education on Thursday, January 10th at the Chef Studio, 2818 SE Pine, 97214. RSPV 503 233 1934

A friend put together this sweet video about making a souffled omelet with berries.

Bon appetit!

RECIPE

My dear friend Kate Hill offers “cassoulet 101″ in her blog. Here is an excerpt:

Cassoulet- this is part of a French Kitchen primer from my winter classes. Since I’m taking this step by step, and lightly- don’t go getting too obsessive on me now; let me tell my cassoulet recipe in my own way. Like a good student- listen, look and then try it- your own way. Centuries of French housewives have made cassoulet without a written down recipe. But they did have three advantages over you- eyes in France, ears in France and best of all– a tongue in France!

I learned to make cassoulet here in Southwest France that same way. I arrived one cold spring along the Canal du Midi on my barge, the Julia Hoyt. It was 1988. I was 37. Taking respite from strong Midi winds called the Tramontana, my mates and I bumped into the sheltered back port at Castelnaudary to moor up for a few days, weeks, whatever. We stayed some months.

To read the rest, visit her blog.

Hi, Everyone,

The word is spreading! Check out the blog posting from Northwest Palate’s editor, Angie Jabine. Go to nwpalate.com and then click on the Accidental Palate link on the left side of the page. Then, under Previous Posts on the left side of the page, click on The Chef in His Studio. Angie wrote this entry after attending a lunch at the studio along with co-publishers Cameron Nagel and Cole Danehower.

Robert and I held our first evening class last night. This class series is Robert’s and my joint project, an effort to expand the cooking school’s attendance among mostly non-professional cooks whose schedules don’t allow them to attend daily classes. We had ten students–for those of you who have been there, you’ll know that means the place was pretty well packed. The series is called Course by Course, is eight weeks long, and our first course was, of course, Amusements, or appetizers.

We paired the students off into groups of two and taught them to make Salmon Rillettes; Blanc de Poireaux (creamed leeks and bacon on crostini); Chicken Liver Mousse with apples and Calvados; Cervelle des Canuts (an herbed cheese spread); and a Pissaladière (a Provençal tart) with onions, olives and anchovies. It all turned out very well and, after a small amount of chaos at the beginning (Where’s the pancetta? How about measuring cups? Is this pan large enough? What if we don’t have any chervil?, etc.), settled into a very nice rhythm. The students, who range in experience level from beginners to experienced home cooks, had a great time and learned quite a bit. Key learnings included proper knife technique, dicing onions, sautéing, flambéing (always a hit!), making bread dough, and, of course, respect for ingredients.

Next week we’re on to stocks and soups.

Bon appétit!

– Caroline Rennard

My friend Jacqueline, who is part of my French family, once framed her expectations for what constitutes a perfect dinner. She told me that she was having guests and that she wanted to be dressed nicely. She also said that she wanted to plan food that would not be so complicated that she wouldn’t be able to be with her guests. She went on to explain that she wanted the food to have a certain audacity, so that her guests would understand that she made extra effort on their behalf. And, finally, she said to me “I want you to help me, but I don’t want you to cook.”

One dish that exemplified her thinking was a pumpkin soup. She prepared it by sautéing a mirepoix of vegetables, a tiny dice of onions, carrots and celery. When they cooked soft and tasted sweet, she added the pumpkin and sweated it the same way. Next she added the liquid, half stock and half water, and let the flavors of her soup steep. She liquefied the mixture, poured it into a tureen and brought it to the table. As she ladled soup, people were filled with anticipation. They told her they recognized the aroma of pumpkin soup. But once the first bowl was filled, she picked up a block of foie gras, and a vegetable peeler, and shaved leaves of foie gras, the way you might do with a piece of Parma cheese, onto each soup as a garnish. The guests’ jaws dropped, and they marveled at her audacity. Mission accomplished.

I cooked for Jacqueline over the years, and when she liked something she would say, “You know, Robeirt, this is not bad.” It was how I learned that “not bad” was a compliment. When I asked her about that comment, she said with a smile, “We don’t want to give you a swell head.” One evening she was sitting next to me at the dinner table. I had served a savory tart, like a quiche. The crust was exceptional and, after she’d tasted it a couple of times, she picked a piece of it up on her fork and held it mid air. Before putting it in her mouth, she said, “Did you make this crust 60-40.” She was asking if I’d prepared the crust using a formula that called for 60 percent flour, 40 percent butter.

I recognized a few things in her comment. First, she did not say, “This isn’t bad.” I knew I was in a different league today. The fact that she engaged me in a technical discussion of tart-crust making was the compliment. She wanted me to know she knew her business. Third, the fork was poised, so there would be no back peddling. I had her. I turned to her, put my fork down, and said, “No, I made the tart dough, weight for weight. I used as much butter as flour.” She smiled, looked at the morsel of food poised on the fork, and before she popped it into her mouth with lust, said only loud enough for me to hear, “Assassin.” That was the ultimate compliment.

I told a story to the students gathered around the table at the Chef Studio a story about one of the times I taught in Italy. I wanted to demonstrate the difference I experienced between the French and Italians. Each week in Venice I would bring the cooking students to my friend’s mother’s apartment. His mother lived with her sister-in-law. These two kindly old ladies had a division of labor in their kitchen that they had worked out over the years and was written in stone. One boiled the potatoes, the other peeled and riced them. One shaped gnocchi, the other poached them. One put the sauce on them, the other finished them with a grating of cheese. They both served. The little dumplings were of course perfectly sublime.

When Zia and Nonna, Auntie and Grandma, had the students in their kitchen, they were very attentive to them. They would hold the hand of a student who’d asked a question as they explained what they were doing. They would pull the student to their side, taking them into their confidence, and say, “Cara, this is how you do this.” Once I asked a question, and the little Auntie who was standing next to me, turned and hit me on the back of the head, and said, “No, you don’t do that!” I was shocked and laughed at her audacity. I tried to recall if anyone had ever hit me on the head. Of course it was all done for affect, and they were the most hospitable hosts. In retrospect, however, it did make me realize that given the experience between the French and the Italians in the kitchen, I understood why I’m a Francophile.

Robert Reynolds offers an 8-week course of study in Portland entitled “Essence of Place.” His aim is to make good cooks. The current session operates through November 9. The next session begins January 14, 2008. For details about attending for a day, week, or the entire series, visit www.thechefstudio.com