Napa Round One

We were greeted on arrival with homemade head cheese (not pictured).  It escalated from there.

To pique the taste buds and prepare for the decadence to come, we started with mangalitsa prosciutto bocadillos.  Crusty toasted bread drizzled with olive oil, rubbed with garlic and tomato and topped off with fatty, hammy, woolly pig.

Our mushroom selection included matsutake, top, lobster mushroom, bottom right, and chanterelles, in the bin at left.  Not pictured are oyster mushrooms and an Oregon black truffle.

The shrooms were destined for a series of pizzas baked in the oven below.

Here they are, par-sauteed and ready to top. 

Also prepped for the oven are some razor clams, fresh from the east coast, courtesy of Virgin Atlantic.

That sucker was up near 1,000 degrees.  A bit out of control, in fact.

Lotta fire.

First pizza is ready to go in.  Melted leeks and mozzarella form the base for truffle shavings to come.

The wax paper lit right up.  Eventually part of the crust did too.

Oh well, still dank.

Razor clams provencale.  Or something like that.  Real simple, oil, garlic, parsley, lemon.

Here's the chanterelle pizza.  Pretty even charring here.  You can imagine what the matsutake and lobster pizzas looked like - they each topped their own pie. 

And a final pie: fresh figs from the yard on a bed of melted leeks.

Finished off with apple pie with apples from the yard and a healthy dollop of creme fraiche.

This pictorial doesn't even include the 2.5 lb lobsters that were the main course.  You'll see their remains in the lobster stock that went into a risotto in dinner number three.

I think our jaded appetites are due for another renewal (from 1900)

Biscotti

Biscotti are easy to make, delicious and keep for a long time.  Being somewhat exotic and usually expensive, people think they are impressive.  I recommend making biscotti at home.

I used an Alice Waters recipe, which keeps things very simple.  These are the ingredients:

2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour, described below)
1 1/2 cups whole almonds
1 cup sugar
3 Eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp anise, fennel or coriander
1/4 tsp lemon zest

-Preheat the oven to 350.
-Toast the almonds in the oven for 5 minutes or until they start to get fragrant.
-Combine the flour, spice and baking powder in a bowl.
-Roughly chop the almonds.
-Beat the sugar, lemon zest and eggs together until the mixture thickens and forms ribbons when drizzled.
-Fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture until just combined.  Gently fold in the chopped almonds.
-Form the dough into two 3-inch wide loaves.  Smooth the loaves with wet hands.
-Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350.
-Allow to cool for ~10 minutes, then slice the loaves about 1/2 inch thick.
-Put the slices back in the oven for 10 minutes on each side, until slightly browned and crisp.


The flour I used was given to me by Sarah Kavage, who did an artistic project focused on "nourishment, food systems, and the City of Chicago" called Industrial Harvest.  The culmination of the project was purchasing 1,000 bushels of soft red winter wheat, milling it into 20 tons of flour and giving it away to various organizations and people around Chicago.

This is the bag it came in:

It is good-looking flour:

Soon to be biscotti...

After the initial bake:

And the final product: