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.

We would like to thank everyone who came out for our annual Bastille Day Fete at Campagne and Cafe Campagne.  Once again it was a great success, all due to the fantastic people who came out.   Here are a few images:  http://picasaweb.google.com/106365001173707207130/CampagneCafeCampagneBastilleDay201002#

Chef Daisley and the Campagneros

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.

Beaujolias Nouveau fever is about to break out the world over, although received with much yawn from our local press and pundits (too sophisticated I presume) this phenomenon still holds sway in diverse cultures around the world. From Japan, to Europe, India and of course the US sommeliers, cavistes and consumers await the new wine, eager to take part in the celebration of the newest  harvest, to take pleasure in the somewhat symbolic  act of sharing wine with friends and complete strangers from around the globe.

Long before fast airplanes and trains the local cafés and bistros of Beaujolais and Lyons would offer the young wine straight out of barrels (they still do), nothing fancy but with enough fanfare and reverence to inspire other cities in France to take on the tradition. Nowadays, it is hard to separate the logistical and marketing feat that Beaujolais Nouveau is from its true meaning, but every so often one needs to set aside cynicism and let be seduced by the simple pleasures of life.

I’m planning on doing just that this coming Thursday, hope you can join.

Cyril

IN THE HEAT OF THE BATTLE

Hey Friends,

here is a shot of me during my Iron Chef America battle against Bobby Flay.

We are having a viewing party on October 11th starting  at 6PM.  The entry is $25 for assorted charcuterie and snacks.  There will be a cash bar. Reservations are required.  If you can’t make it to the party, be sure to tune in on the Food Network

I just started serving this new dish at Cafe Campagne  petit’ sale aux lentils.

it is a variation on a traditional dish of the Lyon region, as we run a program called French 101 at Cafe Campagne consisting of changing 3 course menus for a month at a time or so.

The dish actually started out as a charcuterie project.  I love the taste of pork hock and wanted to do something to capture the fantastic flavor that comes from the long simmer of the connective tissue and ligaments.  I placed  the hocks in a brine, then cooked them in a vacuumed bag  with mirepoix for several hours.  When the cooking was complete and the hocks were sufficiently tender, I pulled the bone from the center and dressed the insides with minced shallots, parsley and red wine vinegar.  I reshaped, pressed and refrigerated the hocks.  The finished product was sliced and dressed with a simple vinaigrette. It reminded me of several meat salads I had had in France-pigs ears and snout and beef nose/snout.

Anyway, every time I was assembling this item I would nibble on the hot meat just out of the bag and the flavor and texture was so good it would make my toes curl.   I thought,  I gotta put this on the menu as a hot item. The aroma was fantastic and the flavor and textures were so satisfying.

Here is a pic of the finished product and my challenge to my twitter followers.

“If u think u r man or woman enough, step up to Cafe Campagne’s French101 special petit’ sale aux lentilles”

Once again the annual Bastille Day celebration at Campagne and Cafe Campagne was  just fantastic.  Folks in Post Alley gave their all in celebrating the revolution.  Diners upstairs  at Campagne enjoyed a set menu in a no less spirited atmosphere. Here are a  few shots of the beautiful lamb dish we served as part of the upstairs prix fixe menu. We gently roasted parsley and anchoide stuffed leg of lamb from Anderson Ranch in Oregon.  The roast was served atop assorted market vegetables.  We found the tiniest carrots at Stoney Plains Organic Farm’s stall at the University District Farmers Market as well as the baby russet potatoes.  Merv Dykstra from Yakima brought us those tender garlic cloves and Alm Hill Gardens was the source of the beautiful French breakfast radishes.

The markets are exploding with produce now and we are very excited about the rest of the season.  Merv will have tomatoes in a couple weeks and we will put them everywhere on the menus upstairs and downstairs until you say uncle.

Cheers,

Daisley

Of the many trips I have taken to France, one of the most memorable was a three week tour of Provence in September of 2005.  The first few days were non-stop rain, which actually gave me a chance to get a bit of rest.  The balance of the trip was blessed with the kind of sunshine and beauty you can only find in the south of France.

It seemed that at so many of the  small cafes  and  restaurants we visited, we were treated to a little snack of black olive tapenade on or with crostini.  These little tastes added to the enjoyment of the  fantastic pink wines of the region.  I want to share a bit of that experience with you.  Join us every Friday in Campagne’s lounge for a special Provence  happy hour from 5PM to 7PM.  We will feature great pink wines, special cocktails and complimentary southern French snacks.

Hope to see you,

Daisley