I did Incredible Feast this year again.  The event keeps getting better and better.  This year Campagne was teamed up with Stoney Plains farm.  Patrick provided some beautiful vegetables and we served them as bagna cauda.  According to the late Richard Olney, bagna cauda is  “an import from Piedmont, Italy, by way of Nice…” which is now firmly implanted in and embraced by all of Provence.

As with so many dishes from the south of France, bagna cauda is simple and magical all at the same time.  It is basically a traditional vegetable  platter with warm anchovy sauce.

First assemble your favorite fresh vegetables.  I like to cook my green beans, but everything else is great raw. For 4 persons, combine 4 cloves of garlic, a pinch of salt and pound into a paste in a mortar. Add  10 to 15 anchovies, which have been desalted, into a mortar and pound until broken down into small pieces. Transfer paste to small saucepan and ad 2/3 cup of oil and heat gently.  Continue stirring until the anchovies have almost dissolved into the oil.

Adjust seasoning with fresh pepper if desired.  Dip vegetables into warm sauce and voila, you have bagna cauda.

I have always been curious about the weird looking geoduck. Bill Whitbeck from Taylor Shellfish has been trying to get me to use it at Campagne  for quite  some time.  Last Wednesday, Bill came by with a couple 2 pound samples and made a presentation to Randy, Campagne’s Chef de Cuisine, and me.  Well I think I am hooked.

It turns out that peeling and cleaning the geoduck is pretty straight forward.  A quick blanch in hot water and a shock in an ice bath and the skin comes off like a sock.  After separating the flesh from the shell on either side, most everything is usable. We just trimmed  the gills and the other dangling bits and we were ready to go.

Typically the siphon (the part that is outside of the shell) is used for raw or nearly raw  preparations and the mantle (body) is cooked. The mantle was sauteed, deep fried in flour and deep fried in a tempura batter (yes I know tempura is not French). The best siphon preparation was a salad of shallots, cucumber, lemon juice and organic canola oil.  We started getting this great  organic canola oil from some guys out in Snohomish.  I was very surprised at the amount of flavor in the oil.

We topped the salad with a little tempura fried mantle.  voila:

http://twitpic.com/29mjqj

We are now serving it as a special, so come in and give it a try.

Cheers,

Daisley

I have been buying lettuce from Brian MacWhorter from close to 13 years.  Brian and his wife own  Butler Green Farms located on Bainbridge Island.

The way I know that the local growing season has started is when Brian calls me from Bainbridge and Merv Dykstra calls me from Yakima.

In addition to the greens we regularly receive from Brian, he also brings extraordinary strawberries, raspberries, fennel, fantastic basil and beautiful tomatoes.  We used Butler Green Farms strawberries this year as the dessert course for our annual Bastille Day prix fixe menu and the dish was sensational.

Here are a couple links with info about Brian’s farm as well as Brian himself.

Cheers,

Daisley

http://www.butlergreenfarms.com/

http://www.soundfood.org/sfcommunity/sflocalfood-/138-butler-green-farms.html

http://www.kitsapsun.com/photos/2010/may/31/111410/?enlarge=1

Pike Place Market Sunday Chef Cooking Demonstration July 25, 2010

I love carrots.  I like the flavor and the color and the endless ways to prepare it.I like them raw, roasted marinated, baked, fried and pureed. Their tastes can range far and wide depending on the variety and how they are prepared.

In my early days as the chef at Campagne and Café Campagne my love of carrots went a bit too far.  I had prepared a summer menu to be evaluated by the owner.  He said: “what’s up with all the carrots?”  Apparently it was a menu fit for Bugs Bunny.

I had a particular recipe where I diced them really really small and blanched them in salted water and then marinated them in truffle oil.  I called the preparation vegetable caviar.  I think I tried to put it on every fish special I made for a while.  But that’s how it is when you get obsessed with things.  You do not realize that the rest of the world doesn’t love it as much as you do.

My goal now is to get you to share my obsession with carrots and give it the rightful place in you cooking repertoire.  In the summer when they are in abundance, I think it is good to have some options. These are three ways that we prepare it a Campagne and café Campagne.

Carrot Salad

1 # organic carrots

12 each garlic cloves, fresh

3 lemons, juiced

1 T Dijon mustard

Sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper

Blender

Wash, then peel bunched organic carrots. Make thin slices by using a Japanese mandolin. In blender, combine 12 medium fresh garlic cloves and the juice of three lemons, 1 Tablespoon of Dijon mustard, puree until smooth, and then add olive oil in steady stream until thick and creamy. Pour vinaigrette over carrot slices and marinate at least 1 day. Adjust seasoning with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. These need a minimum of one day to taste good. The day of marinating will allow the carrots to release some of their juice and mix with the marinade and then you will get this pale creamy carrot colored vinaigrette that is really delicious.

Now the magic of this dish is in two places.  First: the carrots.  Then it is in the garlic cloves.  When the garlic is relatively fresh in the growing season, it has a softer slightly moister consistency, since it hasn’t been left to dry as most of the garlic you find in the store (which are perfectly good, by the way). Most of the time when we make creamy vinaigrettes in restaurants, we use an egg or at least and egg yolk as an emulsifier (this stabilizes the vinaigrette and keeps the oil from separating). The fresh garlic is a great emulsifier, so along with a little mustard you are able to make a purely vegetarian vinaigrette which has great creamy consistency.

Currently at Café Campagne, we use this salad on salad Nicoise plate along with lots of traditional things like egg, tomato, tuna, potatoes and marinated vegetables.  We also use it on a tartine which is made with this fantastic bread from Grand Central bakery.

I must give credit to one of my culinary heroes, Joel Robuchon (  http://twitpic.com/28nen7 )as I was inspired by a preparation years ago in his first book Simply French.

Glazed Carrots

I pound organic carrots, peeled and sliced thinly, discs or sticks, your choice.

Water to cover

2 Table spoons butter, unsalted

1 teaspoon sugar

1 pinch sea salt

Fresh herbs: parsley, basil or mint

A shallow stainless steel sauté pan (straight and short sides)

The heart of the glazed carrots is the French technique of glazing vegetables.  This is one of those things you learn very early on at culinary school or in French kitchens and I think it remains very useful. It is a technique that can be used with other root vegetables: celery root, parsnips, rutabagas, turnips, even beets, though I think it is best with carrots.  At the heart of things is keeping the flavor by keeping the juice.  Typically when carrots need to be cooked, they get boiled.  Boiling gets the carrots to a point where they are easier to eat and digest-meaning softer.  The problem is, when you dump the water, you dump most of the flavor and vibrancy that was in the carrots.  Glazing helps you keep that juice and that is where the flavor is.

Here is the procedure:

Place prepared carrots in sauté pan.  Add enough water just to cover the carrots; and a pinch of salt, little sugar and a couple tablespoons of butter.   Bring the water up to boil, then, turn it down to a simmer.  At this point, allow the carrots to cook gently until they just get tender.  If the water goes down below the level of the carrots, before they are finished cooking, add more water. When the carrots are ready, remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon and hold them on a plate.  Turn up heat and return the liquid to a boil.  Continue to boil until the liquid reduces and begins to get a little thick and glossy and there is just enough to coat the carrots.  At this point return the carrots to the pan and gently coat in the glaze.  If more time is needed to heat the carrots, add a little water and heat until hot and glazed. The combination of sugar, butter and the carrots juices create the glaze. Finally finish the dish with your favorite soft herbs, parsley, basil, mint, tarragon, even chervil.

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I love the traditional big French peasant loaves.  I first experienced them at Poilaine in the 6th  arrondissement in Paris on one of my early trips.

http://www.poilane.fr/pages/en/company_univers_histoire.php

Poilane is very serious about the traditional peasant loaf and  the third generation head of the company, Appollonia,  has even expressed a desire to have it displace the baguette which is universally associated with France.

Anyway I have enjoyed this bread many times, on it’s own and as part of a sandwich or tartine.

Some years back,  I noticed Grand Central Bakery had the bread for sale in Portland.  I started pestering them: will you make it in Seattle? Will you ship it to Seattle?  I tried lots of angles and this year, my persistence paid  off.  Apparently, some of my other fellow chefs around town wanted that loaf as well.

When  the loaf became available, I immediately put it to work by starting a long list of tartines on Cafe Campagne’s lunch menu.  At lunch we now serve tartines made with   marinated leeks and carrot salad, fromage blanc, house-made chicken and pork sausage on a base of  Comte cheese, salmon gravlax, and also beef tartare topped with  a quail egg yolk. All have a base of a little Dijon mustard.

Just last Friday we added a salmon roe tartine to  to be served upstairs at Campagne. We get the bread nice and toasty with good color, spread it with a little softened butter and then top it with salmon roe which comes from the gang at Loki.  A little grind of black pepper finishes it off just so.  Right now we we serve it with a little dressed pea vine and the combination is just fantastic.  It’s the perfect snack .

Daisley

We’re showing the World Cup in Campagne’s Lounge upstairs!

On Thursday, June 17th our bar will open at 11am to show the France vs Mexico, which starts at 11:30am.

Beer and wine will on hand as always and  chef Daisley Gordon has put together the perfect combination of great snacks to watch the World Cup in style!  And all the food is an easy $5!

We’ll be serving mini croque monsieurs (little ham and cheese sandwiches) , our irresistible frîtes (french fries)  fennel tempura,  socca (a chickpea crèpe) and fish fritters.

Come and help us cheer on both teams and enjoy  some great football!  We had great fun at the England v. United States game on Saturday. We look forward to seeing you.

There is little that whisks us away to our dream of Paris more readily than the classic French petit déjeuner in the morning sunshine.  Taking a moment to savor some coffee, some juice, a small pastry and a baguette with some confiture, watching the world and its denizens hustle about; these are what the French refer to as les petits plaisirs, the small pleasures.

So, in response to popular demand from both locals and visitors alike, Café Campagne will offer breakfast during the week starting June 1st.  Serving Monday through Friday from 8am until lunch begins at 11am, expect to see favorites like the Oeufs en meurette, the Omelette Choisy, our chicken and pork sausage and even house-made patisseries!

Cafe Campagne has long been famous for it’s iconic lamb burger. Now, Campagne Restaurant upstairs, where it all started, is putting a little gilding on the traditional beef burger.
We start with fantastic meat-a combination of tenderloin, top round and Kobe beef brisket, well seasoned. The burger is served on an artisan bun from The Essential Baking Company and the accompaniments will make your toes curl: truffle & artichoke aioli, red wine pickled red onions, tempura sweet onion rings, and finally a couple slices of Campagne’s foie gras torchon.
Here’s a link to a little video from when were doing trials on the burger:
The Campagne Burger has arrived!

Come and get it!
Cheers,
Daisley

Provence is a cheerful place, from the sun-drenched beaches of Cassis and Bandol to the color-saturated, windswept heartland, the landscape and laid back lifestyle bewitch the traveler. Summers are long and balmy, lazy days often spent on outdoor terraces under the cooling shade of coastal pines and café umbrellas. The cuisine is light, fresh and vibrant, washed down with wines to match.

A crossroads of civilization since before the Bronze Age, the Provence region has traded hands throughout the centuries from the early Greeks, the Romans, the Merovingians and the Carolingians before establishing itself as  in the 9th century as an independent state under the unfortunately named Boso of Provence.

Historically, Provence is arguably most famous for being the home of the Catholic Popes from 1309 until 1378 and the “anti-popes” during the Papal Schism of 1378-1418.  The Palais des Papes (Popes’ Palace) in Avignon is a prominent tourist destination and was the largest Gothic palace in Europe in the fourteenth century.  Joining French sovereignty in 1486 under Louis XI.

Culturally, Provence is a particularly rich region.  Seminal impressionist and post-impressionist artists found unique inspiration in the towns and countrysides of Nice, Aix-en-Provence, and others.   Paul Cézanne was born in Aix-en-Provence.  Henri Matisse and Auguste Renoir spent the last several decades of their lives in Nice and Cagnes-sur-mer, respectively.  Pablo Picasso graced the Côte d’Azure region every summer from 1919 until 1939 before finally settling in the region in 1946.  Even Vincent van Gogh lived there for a few years (1888-1890) and painted some of his most famous works, including “Cafe Terrace at Night” and “Self-portrait with bandaged ear.” It has been suggested that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote much of The Great Gatsby and began Tender is the Night while visiting the French Riviera.

The Wine

The whites are typical blends of southern France varietals; bourboulenc; clairette; grenache blanc and vermentino whereas reds and rosés may be blends of grenache, mourvèdre, cinsault, syrah, counoise, carignan and cabernet sauvignon. The climate is distinctly Mediterranean; mild and wet winters followed by warm to hot, dry summers. The intense summer heat is mitigated by the powerful northerly Mistral wind and cooler coastal or hillside vineyard locations. Soils are varied, with limestone and schist toward the coast and sandstone and clay toward the interior. This diverse framework of grape varietal, geographical character, weather pattern and soil composition entrust the winemakers with a broad palette from which to express their region and style; from cheery, fruity and quaffing white, rosé and reds to full bodied, structured, firm and dry wines, the options are plenty and varied and rarely fail to convey the cheerfulness of Provence.

Santé.

Intrigued? Come join us for a special Provence dinner on Wednesday, May 19th!