Jim Dixon

I mentioned this before, but one of the best things about the whole Copper River thing is that it's brought more fresh sockeye down from Alaska (Bristol Bay is a huge sockeye fishery, and I think it runs from about now into mid-June or a little later). Sockeye is my all-time favorite salmon, and I've been eating silvers, chinook (aka King), and steelhead (technically a rainbow trout, but more like salmon in flavor) as long as I can remember. Never had pinks or dog, but don't think I'm missing much there. Since it's usually during warm weather (such as it is here in the NW) I like to cook it on the Weber. I often brush the flesh side with a mix of olive oil, soy, and brown sugar because it reminds me of the smoked salmon we used to make when I was a kid. I cook it using the indirect method, skin side down, covered, with maybe a little fruitwood (I save tree trimmings for this) for smoke...The time varies depending on how hot the fire is, but it's usually less than 10 minutes. I don't flip it, and the skin can get a nice crispy edge. I plan to look for a CR sockeye filet today at the Wed Farmers Mkt downtown. Jim

I’ve been to the mountain and seen the light…you’re all right, Gramercy Tavern is the best restaurant on the planet. Or at least it was for our dinner there Tuesday night. Amuse bouche of crostini with foise gras (excuse my French…even worse than my Italian) and red onion jam, another appetizer of tiny artichoke heart, white bean puree, red pepper tapenade, and baby arugula (all in about 2 bites)…then I had the roasted sweetbreads, rabbit with olives and tomatoes, and a crème fraiche napolean with rhubarb and strawberries. Judith had marinated hamachi and roasted chicken, but to be honest, I was so busy moaning about my own food I didn’t really get to do much more than sample hers. Soft shell crab with fish stock, crème fraiche, and ramps was just killer. Christopher and the rest of staff demonstrated why GT won the Time Out readers’ poll for best service. We stayed at our table for more than 3 hours, pacing the food and enjoying the scene around us..an adjoining table was a classic business dinner, and we wondered how anyone could be talking about something other than the incredible food. Anyway, we’re glad we followed all you New Yorkers’ advice. GT for dinner is the best choice. We also had soup dumplings at Joe’s Shanghai for lunch…good and fun, and the Shanghai noodle soup…thick, ropy noodles in a hearty brown stock with chunks of shredded pork and that incredible pickled cabbage..mmm. Today I was still full, so made do with coconut bubble tea (we walked over the Manhattan Bridge from our friends’s place in DUMBO, and the bubble tea place was the first thing I saw coming into Chinatown) and a pretzel in Central Park, then some ho-hum Thai fried rice just before we saw Urinetown…great show…get tickets now before it wins a boatload of Tonys. Like stellabella, we’ve been riding the subway and walking our butts off. It’s been beautiful, though, sunny and not too hot. We’re having a great time. Jim

More than 20 years ago I worked for the Forest Service (Detroit, Oregon RD...at the time the second biggest money-maker in terms of timber sales...also scene of famous turn-of-the-century timber fraud), and a couple of co-workers were first generation Mexican-Americans. They lived down in the valley and commuted the 65 miles up to the ranger station, at least before fire season. Their wives would get up even earlier and make them fresh flour tortillas that they'd roll around soft scrambled eggs mixed with small chunks of boiled potato. For a few weeks we shared a bunkhouse. The crockpot ran 24/7 with pinto beans, and on weekends I'd drive back to Portland and stock up on groceries I couldn't find in the little timber towns. I would make artichokes, steamer clams, and calzone for us, and Juan and Jerry would trade me from their stash of fresh tortillas, To this day, I haven't tasted a flour tortilla as good as those. Jim

Basildog...my first thought exactly, altho' more like this: Borage...Good God Y'all....what is it good for? Jim

Malawry... The local growers who sell to Portland's best restaurants tell me that the chefs get the very best stuff, and the leftovers go to the Farmers Market. They need to keep their best customers happy, and most know that a box of expensive micro beet greens (and I'm not really sure exactly what he means by that...the photos look pretty red, so I'm guessing these are the very first stem-and-leaf coming up from the beet seed) won't be a huge seller at the Market. One grower (and he's one of the best and smartest) says he never puts anything in the ground that he hasn't already sold. If he speculates on a crop, he may be able to pay his mortgage. Jim

Rachel, Cane berries (like raspberries) will do fine along a fence. I don't train mine aling a wire like the commercial growers do, but I do put up a few posts with vinyl-covered wire rope to hold them back so they don't lean over too far. I think the best bet is plant starts, and they do spread very quickly. if you don't like red reaspberries, try Marionberries, a raspberry/boysenberry cross developed at Oregon State in the 1950s...like a wild blackberry but less thorny and bigger fruit. Out here (and I'm guessing almost everywhere) the himalayan blackberry is a tremendous pest...they grow everywhere and create a wasteland under their thick canes..the new growth goes over the last, so the mounds build up higher and higher...but I've picked them ever since I was little, and still love a seedy blackberry pie or jam best. Jim

Here's what's growing right now... Shallots and garlic planted last October (harvest in mid-July) Artichokes (three total, from a single plant I bought three years ago...I have two big and about 5 small 'chokes ready to eat) Cavalo nero, aka lacinato kale (I brought back seed from Italy and only got one plant to grow 2 years ago...but let it go to seed...of course now you can just buy the seed...) A few volunteer leeks Tomatoes (4 starts, maybe more later) Arugula and some misc lettuce starts for salad greens. Sage, thyme, oregano, flat leaf parsley, mint (2 kinds), rosemary, and lemon verbena in the herb garden Asian pear, French petite plum, pineapple quince, and white fig trees Everbearing red raspberries, golden raspberries, and blueberries. I still need to plant Chioggia beets (the pink, bull's eye patterned beets) and Swiss chard. Everything but the berries is in a plot about 20 feet square...three raised beds with the fruit trees around the perimeter. Jim

It's really hard to find decent versions of this soft sausage, so I have yet another reason to dream about Salumi. In Italy it's usually served with lentils, beans, or as part of a bollito misto...one the best I tasted was at Buffet de Pepi in Trieste (buffets serve a variety of boiled pork products accompanied by sauerkraut and mustard...Trieste is much more Slovenian than Italian). Jim

Sunday I planted 2 Early Girls (not an heirloom variety, but the most dependable and tasty early tomato I've grown in the last 25 years), a Sungold, and a Green Zebra. Rachel...I planted the Green Zebra last year for the first time, and I puzzled over ripeness, too. The fruits will start to get a little yellow tinge as they fully ripen, and I found picking them then was best. I also picked quite a few while still pretty bright green, and they weren't bad...they'll ripen in a bowl with other tomatoes, too. These have a great, tomato-y flavor, a little more acidic than some. I'm debating over a paste tomato or two...my space is tight, and I can always buy a flat at the Farmers Mkt for drying at the end of the summer. I'm tempted to make sun-dried paste like we saw in Sicily, but don't think it's hot enough here in September. The Sungolds are hard to beat for eating off the vine. When I get home on a hot summer afternoon, sweating from my bike ride and craving a cold beer, I'll still head back into the garden to eat a few handfuls...when they are warm from the sun and near to bursting with sugar, they taste great. Jim

I was on my feet all afternoon Saturday doing an olive oil tasting, so I wanted to make myself something good for a reward, but didn't want to take a lot of time cooking. Portland's best fish monger is in the same market (Newman's in Irvington Market, Portland), so I bought a half pound of dry-packed Maine sea scallops. Checked in Bittman's How to Cook Everything and adapted his recipe for grilled scallops stuffed with basil... I used lemon mint, sorrel, and spring garlic because they're all in my garden right now...chopped fine, mixed with lemon zest, salt, pepper, and few drops of olive oil. Made a slit in the side of each scallop (you need the bigger sea scallops for this) and packed a little of the herb mixture inside. Heated a cast iron skillet to smoking, skimmed it with olive oil, and dropped in the scallops...about a minute on each side...squeezed lemon juice on them and ate them really hot. Jim

one word: arugula (or is that rocket to you Brits?) Anyway, here in the temperate Pacific Northwest the stuff grows like a weed, and I'm guessing that it would do fine in London, too. It starts from seed tossed directly into the garden, grows quickly, and provides edible leaves and flowers almost all year long (until it freezes...mine overwinters unless it gets below about 25F). I also like to grow things that are either epensive or hard to find. A big chunk of my space is in shallots. You plant these in the fall and harvest in mid-summer, so they have the additional benefit of providing some green during the winter (also very cold hardy). Jim

I love rhubarb, too, especially becasue it's only around for a short time. When I was a kid my mother made pie, of course, but we also ate a lot of it just cooked with a bit of water and sweetened with sugar. Lately I've been roasting rhubarb. Cut it into short pieces (bite-sized, about 1/2-3/4 inch), toss with olive oil, and spread in a single layer on a sheet pan. Cook at 350 for about 15 minutes or until it's tender. Eat warm or cool, sprinkled with sugar to taste. The nice thing about roasting is that the rhubarb keeps it's shape. The flavor of the olive oil adds another interesting dimension. Jim

Wilfrid...just to be clear, that was Alice Waters' brine recipe I posted. It was in the NYT several years ago and I've seen it reprinted almost every Thanksgiving since. Another option for brining big items like a turkey is a cooler. I usually throw a bag of ice on top to keep it cold and leave it overnight. I'm with Klink on the herbs and spices...they don't really seem to add much flavor, or maybe it's just overwhelmed by the gravy or cranberries (in the case of turkey, the only thing I've brined so far). I do think I'll try a few things this summer with a salt-only brine...I'm thinking my slow-cooked whoel chickens on the weber (indirect heat). I'm tempted by the smoker, but Judith might run meout if I try to squeeze another barbecue into the garage. Jim

A few years ago Judith and I rode back on the train from Venice to Florence and sat with a womon from Rome who worked as a conference organizer. She said she hated doing them in Venice because the restaurants were so overpriced and not very good. A lot of this has to do with the huge crush of tourist traffic and the market response...but we found that by wandering around the outer sestiere, the neighborhoods away from San Marco, we could find great little neighborhood places. We would usually eat a big meal in one of these in the afternoon, then later in the evening eat cicheti (Venetian 'tapas' sold in the wine bars called bacari). It's a little old, so the prices are outdated, but I have a short description of our favorites on my site: Venice restaurants Jim edited to fix my crappy Italian

Here's the Chez Panisse brine recipe, meant for a turkey, so cut it down for a chicken... Heat about 2-1/2 gallons of water to near boiling, then dissolve 2 cups of kosher salt and a cup of sugar in it. Flavor it with 2 bay leaves, torn into pieces, 1 bunch fresh thyme (or 4 tablespoons dried), 1 whole head of peeled garlic, 5 crushed allspice berries, and 4 crushed juniper berries. Brine turkey overnight. I'm pretty sure Col Klink has posted a few of his brines over on the Pacific NW board, too. I roast a lot of chickens, since chicken is Judith's favorite protein, but she also loves the backs, so I leave them intact. I mix coarse salt, pepper, garlic, and whatever dried herbs I have a lot of (typically thyme, marjoram, sage, maybe some celery seed) with olive oil to make a paste, then stuff that under the skin (breast and back) and rub it on the outside. I also start breast down, then flip for the last 30 minutes or so, but even then the breat will get dried out. Unless you brine, I don't think you can avoid it if you like your chicken falling-off-the-bone done. I pour a little olive oil over the meat, which helps any chicken breast no matter how it's cooked. If nobody eats the breast (I like the wings best), I'll use the meat for something else that I can moisten up. I also like to rub with salt, pepper, olive oil, and pimenton, the Spanish smoked paprika. I like to do these birds three-up on the Weber, indirect heat method, with some fruitwood tossed on to create a little smoke...not exactly smoked chicken, but great smoky flavor. One constant is using good chickens. The free-range birds we get are consistently better tasting than the factory farmed ones. Jim

Thanks Liza

Mogsob... I've been trolling these posts for restaurant ideas for our upcoming trip to NYC...saw your mention of Bea Rosso. When we were meeting with Marco Bettini to discuss importing his olive oil, we drank his family's sangrantino (both rosso and passito, the old style sweet wine) and were blown away. He said he'd love to give us some, but they were out. He said one of his childhood friend's family had a winery nearby, called them, and took us over..it was Bea (Paolo Bea), and we drank quite a bit there, bought a few bottles of rosso for later, and carried back the passito for hoarding at home. Etats Unis sounds really good...where exactly is it? Jim

jaybee... I won't repeat all the good advice here, but want to emphasize one of Ron's original points...I've found that a simple weight program is the most effective thing I do (I also am fortunate enough to be able to commute by bicycle every day, and I also try to get at least 3 aerobic sessions in as well...like Malawry, I read while I work out, and it makes the time pass quickly). But back to the weights....a study by some guys at OSU determined that a single set of a few basic lifts (ones that hit several of the major muscle groups at once) is enough to build muscle mass. The secret is lifting as much as you can...when you hit 12 reps and you're not just barely getting the weight up, add more. My weight routine consists of three simple lifts (2 w/ machines, 1 w/free weights), and it's the one thing that made my pants looser. I think it's also important to make your exercise a regular part of your schedule, not just something you fit in when you have the time...put it in your planner or online scheduler or whatever, and treat it just like a meeting with the boss or any other important appointment. I'm defintitely not one of those genetically thin types (and it's genes that primarily determine body type), and I love to eat, so I know I have to keep moving. One of the wonderful ironies about exercise is that it's an appetite suppressant. I rarely feel hungry right after a workout. The other great thing about it is that it makes you feel better and will keep you that way as you get older. My mother still works out (water aerobics these days) at 76 and is incredibly active.....and she makes the best pie ever. Jim

The wild fennel is bright green, while most of the ornamental is the bronze variety, and the just now emerging new growth is darker colored. Look for last years dried and collapsing stalks over a little mass of fethery fronds and you'll find the wild stuff. As for allergic reactions...'hay fever' symptoms come from inhaling air borne pollen (and other stuff). I get hammered early by the first tree pollen (last month here) and later by grass pollen (grass seed is one of Oregon's biggest crops), but have never had any reaction to eating pollen. Jim

All the talk here (and other threads) about short ribs made me hungry, so I bought some (appx .5 lb) at the opening day of our farmers market from a local beef producer. Browned in hot oven, tossed in with my basic beans (sage, garlic, olive oil, salt...this time w/small white beans) and braised for 3 hours at 200F. Pulled out the meat, let cool, and picked some off to stir back a bowl of beans...wow. The extra fat and collagen made the beans really creamy. Jim

Matthew, I haven't seen it for a couple of years, but there was a vacant lot near our friends' house on Queen Ann that was covered with wild fennel. I don't know the name of the street, but it's the route on the east side of the hill (a bus goes up it) that you get to by turning right after going under 99 and before you hit Seattle Center (this is on the south side...we take the I-5 exit that goes past the pink tow truck). About three blocks up the hill a street veers off to the left, then turns hard left and goes straight up. The lot is on the veering left street (it's only a block or so long), on the left side, steep and rocky-looking. Harvest the pollen when the flowers are in full bloom by putting a plastic bag over them and shaking. Jim

Like Kim, I also do stuff on the weekend that I can pull out during the week. I'll often cook a batch of beans or do a braised meat dish that provides a number of permutations. Ditto on the chickens..I always think, as long as I'm going to the trouble, why not cook two (or three, if all of the boys will be around). Another trick I use when I haven't thought ahead...I pull out a package of frozen boned thighs (we like dark maet and never really use breasts, but the same thing would work with them), partially defrost in the microwave, then slice thorugh the frosty mass so I have thin cross sections. These cook really quickly, especially in a sauce with some liquid. When our kids were younger, it seemed like we ate pasta at least three nights a week. When you're feeding 6 people, it's hard to beat for speed and volume. And the picky eaters can have it plain, altho' that's not really much of a problem now that they're older. Jim

Last I night had some wild oyster mushrooms...dry sauteed for about 10 minutes, then added some olive oil and shallots and cooked another minute or so. Added to a simple omelette with just a bit of Parmigiano...mmmm. My friend HC is responsible for most our wild mushroom experiences. He has a cabin near Mt Adams (east of Portland about an hour, but on the north or Washington side of the Columbia) and is much better than I am about studying and remembering the botanical details. Last weekend while driving back to town he stopped at a roadside park where he had seen a promising downed log earlier, and he said the mushrooms literally covered one whole side of it. These kinds of friends are very good to have. Jim

I first tasted this at Alle Testiere in Venice in swordfish cooked with olives and capers and flavored with pollinea di finnochio. With my halting Italian, I wasn't really sure what pollinea meant, and eventually the owner puled out a little jar and opened it so I could see and smell it. A couple of years later we were in Sicily in a little beach town called Cefalu. We had hiked to the top of the rocca, a big rock used for many cnturies as a refuge from the various invaders (there are remains of a Greek temple to Diana that are about 2500 years old, and lots of more recent fortifications). It was mid-October, and at the top, amongst the crumbling rock walls, I found blooming fennel. I spent an hour shaking the pollen into a plastic bag to bring home. Wild fennel also grows out here, and I spotted some last year along the Willamette River just across from downtown Portland. It had already bloomed, so I couldn't get any pollen, but earlier this year I dug a couple of plants out of the gravel (they seem to like disturbed areas, and this was an old parking lot underneath the freeway). I transplanted them into my yard, and they seem to be doing fine, so I'm looking forard to my own pollen harvest later. The geeen fronds are also used in a lot of Sicilian recipes. There's an ornamental variety called bronze fennel, and I got some pollen from one in a neighbor's yard. It had the same delicate, ephemeral fennel flavor. Jim

I cook almost everything we eat. When I met her, Judith's idea of a quick dinner was a carrot dipped in Grey Poupon. She does make big batches of tomato sauce (you can take the Italian out of Jersey, but you can't...never mind) that I freeze or can. She also gets inspired occasionally, like last month when she baked cantucci and schiasciatta, a Tuscan flatbread, this time with fresh grapes (we eat something very similar from a little bakery near the train station in Pontedera while we're waiting to go into Florence). Like Malawry, I'm the one who cares most about how things are done in the kitchen. I've finally got everybody trained to treat the good knives with some respect (just as the kids are grown up and leaving) and not to leave the cast iron sitting in the sink full of water, but that's about it. I still find myself re-wrapping the cheese, pulling stuff that needs hand-washing out of the dishwasher, and putting things back where they supposed to go in the drawers and cabinets. I have pretty specific ideas about how any given foodstuff should be handled, whether it's chopping onions, deseeding bell peppers, or washing rice, but I try hard not be too pushy about it if someone else is helping. Luckily, I've been able to train most of the boys (at least the ones who want to cook something), so they can actually be sort of fun to have in the kitchen. It's nice to have another set of hands that you can tell to do something, like shucking a few pounds of fava beans, then slipping them out of their skins onced they're cooked (yes, my teen-agers have learned fava 101). I like doing it. I find the time spent in the kitchen interesting, if not exactly relaxing, and I enjoy the craft and coordination aspects of getting dinner on the table. The only times I get a little frustrated are when somebody's repeatedly asking, 'when's dinner?' while I'm working. I'll admit that some of my very favorite meals are the ones I cook just for myself. Jim