Here at Watershed, we have a tradition of hand-crafting something delicious during the holiday season as a way to pay tribute to the wonderful artisans we spend the rest of the year learning from and promoting.

Our inspiration this year? Cocktails. More specifically, barrel-aged bitters.

The first person we called was Jeffrey Morgenthaler, bar manager of Clyde Common.  If there’s barrel-aging involved, he’s the man to call. Jeff advised us to follow Gary Regan’s Orange Bitters no. 5 recipe, so naturally we went for it. It was when Jeffrey so generously loaned us the small oak barrel that aged his first ever barrel-aged negroni that we knew this was going to be quite the experience.

Next, we reached out to Douglas Derrick, bar manager of Nostrana, for a little advice on the process since he makes bitters seasonally. Luckily for us, he was just beginning his own cranberry bitters project at the restaurant and took us under his wings.

After 85 hand-peeled oranges, innumerable bags of Oregon cranberries, and countless hours of cooking in giant brewing vats, we have produced something we are really proud of.

What a great pairing: Oregon cranberry bitters and barrel-aged orange bitters — both perfect for creative versions of the Manhattan (a nice nod to our NYC office, led by media guru and cocktail loving Helen Baldus!)

So, in the spirit of the holiday season, we would like to share two fantastic Manhattan recipes and recommend you sip with friends and family. Cheers to a wonderful year to come and taking the time to craft something truly special.

Nocino Manhattan

Recipe by Douglas Derrick of Nostrana, Portland, Ore.

2.0 oz. Ransom Whippersnapper Whiskey

0.5 oz. Handmade Nocino or Nux Alpina Walnut Liqueur (See Note)

1 bar spoon of 2:1 Demerara Syrup

2 dashes of Oregon Cranberry Bitters (or Fee Brothers cranberry bitters)

Ice cubes

Stir ingredients, serve up, add two cranberries for garnish.

Demerara syrup:

2 parts Demerara Sugar and 1 part hot water.  Mix well.

Note: Look for a product imported by Haus Alpenz called Nux Alpina Walnut Liqueur, but using this version will require added sugar.

Orange Manhattan

2 oz. Rye Whiskey
1 oz. Sweet Vermouth
2 dashes Orange bitters (or to taste)

Ice cubes

Stir ingredients in a mixing glass, strain into a chilled martini glass.

Kurt Huffman, Cathy Whims, and Ryan Magarian

Monday night marked a momentous occasion for the Pearl District’s restaurant scene. We had the pleasure of hosting the media launch party for Oven and Shaker, the much-anticipated pizza-and-cocktail project of Nostrana’s Cathy Whims, ChefStable’s Kurt Huffman, and renowned cocktail genius Ryan Magarian. Oven and Shaker, a sort of urban-saloon-meets-pizzeria space, offers an Italian-street food and wood-fired pizza menu that puts delectable food items and enticing cocktail combinations on level footing.

The evening was ideal and the buzz in the media community was electric: Oven and Shaker is bringing a reasonably priced hot spot to the posh Pearl District restaurant scene. Karen Brooks of Portland Monthly magazine’s “Eat Beat” describes Whims as Portland’s “pizza goddess,” and  we couldn’t agree more with her trademark slow-rising, sourdough Neapolitan crusts and outstanding pairings of local and Italian ingredients. Magarian’s cocktail menu complements Whims’ creations perfectly by offering a nod to old and new Portland cocktail traditions that run the gamut—from classic with a twist to whimsical and unexpected.

Oven and Shaker opened Wednesday night to a packed house and rave reviews from the general public. Congratulations to the entire Oven and Shaker team, Portlanders are excited to have another forward-thinking restaurant in town and even more excited to see it in the Pearl!

Thanksgiving is just 2 days away.  If you haven’t already, it’s definitely time to get your act together and figure out just what you’re going to bring to the table.  Whether you’re the host, or a guest, we have a couple of ideas that will keep you Portlanders stress free and even sweeten your day. No pun intended.

Sally Bowers at work

The Original Dinerant, downtown Portland’s cool supper club-inspired diner/restaurant, is offering Thanksgiving cakes and pies to go.  Hurry up though, because you’ve got to place your orders TODAY.  Now, these are not your ordinary cakes and pies.  The Original’s Pastry Chef Sally Bowers has a playful approach (she makes cake pops and pudding shots too), but she is serious when it comes to her cakes and pies. You’ll know it the moment you bite into one of her decadent layered cakes — always incredibly flavorful and gorgeous to look at.  These are conversation starters, and cause for yet another Thanksgiving photo op.

Here are the details: Cakes are $40 and pies are $25 each.

Cake flavors include: Chocolate Fudge, Carrot with Cream Cheese, Red Velvet and Brown Butter Cake with Brown Sugar Buttercream.

Pie flavors include: Cherry Lattice, French Apple (with a crumble top), Chocolate Cream, Lemon Meringue, Pumpkin, and Pecan.

Call: (503) 546-2666

We’ve also learned through the pumpkin vine that it’s still possible to get a work of pie art at Random Order. They’ve wrapped up advance orders, but they’re busily making extras for their cafe on Alberta. These pies are so well loved that OPB dubbed their bakery “Pie City.” This also means you’ll be taking a chance that they’ll all be snatched up, so we’ve asked for an insider scoop on the best time to swing by: Tonight from 9pm – 10pm or Thursday from 7am – 10am.

Here are the details: Pies are $35, baked in glass with a $5 pie plate refund.

Pie flavors include: “Old World Apple Farm” Heritage Apple Pie, Kentucky Pecan, and Spirited Pumpkin

Stop by: 1800 NE Alberta St.

Nope, no goblins or vampires in this office! Each year, we host our own client look-alike contest at Watershed HQ and now it’s up to YOU to vote for who you think looks the most like their better half. In the running we have:

1. Carin Pike as Rudy Marchesi, Montinore Estate
2. Lisa Donoughe as Lee Medoff, Bull Run Distillery
3. Lota LaMontagne as Sheryl Kesey, Nancy’s Yogurt
4. Stephanie Selk as Brian Butenschoen, Oregon Brewers Guild
5. Katie Burnett as Douglas Derrick, Nostrana

Now, it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for….time to vote!  Just leave a comment with your favorite ‘look-alike.’  Winner takes home $100.

Carin Pike a.k.a. Rudy Marchesi

Lee Medoff of Bull Run Distillery

Lee Medoff a.k.a. Lisa Donoughe

Sheryl Kesey of Springfield Creamery and Nancy's Yogurt

Sheryl Kesey a.k.a. Lota LaMontagne

Brian Butenschoen a.k.a. Stephanie Selk

Brian Butenschoen of the Oregon Brewers Guild

Douglas Derrick of Nostrana

Douglas Derrick a.k.a. Katie Burnett

I always knew I loved Dining Month, but it wasn’t until I went out with some girlfriends on a Friday night that I realized just how good of a deal it really was!  Three of us, two cocktails, three courses each, great conversation – I got out of there for under $45 on ‘date night.’

Now onto the good stuff. Gilt Club took Dining Month to the next level by offering three different choices for each course in the prix-fixe. So being the food-loving friends we are, we naturally ordered all of ‘em.  So then it began, course after Dining Month course.  There were three standouts for the evening – Rabbit rillettes with toasty bread, nicely dressed greens and a creamy whole grain mustard; Salt and pepper fried quail with pea tendrils and arugula salad with Pedro Ximenez pickled red and green strawberries, fried peanuts and sherry gastrique; and a lemon poppy seed pound cake with fresh Oregon strawberries and a citron sorbet.

I’m glad to have had Dining Month Portland to lure me into the dining room, because I have to admit, you can usually find me cozying up to the Gilt Club bar with a bing cherry Manhattan.

Once again, a Dining Month success!  This is one menu I’ll be returning to.

This morning, Douglas Derrick – Bar Manager of Nostrana Restaurant – was recognized in Tasting Table’s National Drinks Edition for his innovative tea cocktails.  He’s partnering up with local teamaker Steve Smith of Steven Smith Teamaker to make a black tea gomme syrup out of Smith’s signature Lord Bergamot blend.  The cocktails?  Doug is making a “Black Rose” with Laird’s Applejack, fresh lemon, black tea gomme, apple bitters and a “Steep Alexander” with Hennessy cognac, cream, creme de cacao, black tea gomme.

I’ve noticed a resurgence in gomme syrups on the cocktail scene lately, so I asked Doug how we can go about doing this at home.  He said that the trick to making a powerful black tea gomme (pronounced gum) syrup is steeping the tea overnight in cold water — at least 10 hours.  Hot soaking and then cooling leaves an extremely bitter liquor (brewed liquid) with little tea flavor in the cocktails.

If you happen to be in Portland, visit Nostrana for a tea cocktail.  If you’re curious to try your hand at a black tea gomme syrup with Steven Smith Teamaker tea, visit the website because they’ll ship it straight to your door.

Good things come in threes.  That’s why we’re giving you three things to look forward to as we continue planning the Portland Indie Wine & Food Festival.  It’s May 14, 2011, so save the date!

1) 2011 is the year for an Indie Review.  What does that mean? Indie alums are taking center stage and pouring their wines at the May 14^th Grand Tasting event.  Cool, right?

2)  You’ll still see new faces, too. We’re partnering with Northwest Palate to produce a smaller scale wine competition for 2011.

3) Bison Building is back.  We loved last year’s 13,000 sq. ft. industrial space and we’ll be taking it over again May 14 and 15.  And for those of you who came to the festival last year – not to worry.  Road construction is fini!

Rolling out more details in the next 48 hours, so I advise you to stay tuned…

One rainy Friday a few weeks ago, Watershed got the 411 on espresso by Italian-style roaster Andrea Spella of Spella Caffe.  Now, the term roaster doesn’t do this man justice.  I’d like to add – suave scientist and humble gourmand to the job title.

One might say that it was Spella’s destiny to become an artisan roaster. Cheesy, yes, but it’s true.  He was born into a food-loving Polish family and grew up in an apartment set above his family’s bakery.  With the wafting scent of fresh baked pastries and espresso permenantly ingrained in his mind, Spella moved to Chicago to work in fine-dining, then to Colorado where he worked for Allegro coffee (pre-Whole Foods), then ultimately to Portland, Ore. to open up his own cart cafe.

We wanted to learn how to pull espresso, so we enlisted the bar at our favorite Italian restaurant (also a client) Nostrana.  Nostrana is the first and only restaurant to carry Spella Espresso – it’s a proprietary blend of his too that he calls Rossalina after his red roaster.  As you might imagine from my description of Spella, carrying his espresso comes with a theoretical ‘coffee contract,’ meaning that Nostrana’s staff adhears to Spella’s techinical training and shot pulling philosophy.  Nostrana happily maintains the ‘contract,’ and this is why Spella suggested we use their state of the art espresso machine that he helped pick out.

Three huge take aways from shot pulling with Spella: it’s all about precision, finesse and crema.

Pulling espresso is not a ‘one-to-two-bing-bam!’ sort of process.  If it was a dance, it’d be tap – it’s rhythmic and precise, but also delicate, somewhat aggressive and therapeutic.  Maybe it’s the tap ball change-ness of the knock, tamp, pull, polish, etc.  That will come later…

Spella’s pyramid to the espresso flavor profile:

Before we did anything, Spella shared his GREAT espresso flavor pyramid.  This will be your go-to guide of understanding what you’re tasting and experiencing when you drink espresso.  Keep this in your back pocket.  Consider it our gift to you.

Top notes of acid, fruit, citrus

Middle notes of fruits, nuts

Base notes of chocolate, caramel, flan (yes, flan)

Now onto shot pulling, a process I have since learned is often butchered for efficiency sake.  Here’s why.  The proper espresso shot should follow the following steps.

Shot Pulling 101:

The reason I said pulling espresso was like tap dancing is because of the following essential steps.  I cannot stress ESSENTIAL enough.  Sing a little tune while you read it.

1.  Flour (lightly brush your finger over the grounds so your not forcing too much in the shot.  Too much will prevent the water from flowing through the shot and it will not come out even.  You will not get crema.)

2.  Knock (with the tamper, similar to what you’d do with a cup of flour to check your measurement)

3.  Tamp (compress the espresso grounds with a tamper).  *There’s a specific technique to this.  Will be illustrated later with photographs.

4.  Knock (REPEAT)

5.  Polish (this refers to the twist of the tamp)

6.  Wipe (DON’T forget to wipe the machine, or you’ll get air gaps if your espresso!)

Fini!

Did you know..?

• A shot of espresso – when properly prepared – should be 85% to 90% crema.  Crema is the gorgeous tannish colored foam that sits atop a well pulled shot of espresso.
• When pulling espresso, the filter is supposed to be the same temperature of the hot water.
• “Mouse tail” – this term refers to the way the dark color that is squiggly with the light color in the espresso stream flowing into the cup.
• Your espresso cup should be warm, so to keep the crema intact.  This is why when you ask for your espresso to go at a high quality local coffee shop, they’ll get a little peeved.  Paper cup = no chance at crema!
• Always clean beneath the espresso bowl.  Most coffee shots just wipe the top part of the device, leaving espresso grounds trapped (and spoiling) beneath.

Photos to illustrate each step to come….they are currently trapped on my phone…
P. 2 will be in the Spella Roastery where we watched him roast two batches of beans.

Each family has their own Thanksgiving guilty pleasure.  For my family, it’s Marie Callendar’s pie; boysenberry and pumpkin to be exact.  Don’t judge…it’s a thing!  Really, it’s my dad’s request.  A little something passed down from my grandma (may she rest in peace) whose time in the kitchen was limited to hitting the start button on the microwave, usually to heat up her tea.

This year, I say it’s time for a pie intervention and luckily I have some help.  Jackie Sappington, co-owner and Executive Pastry Chef of The Country Cat Dinnerhouse & Bar, offered up a recipe for her Pumpkin Upsidedown Cake.  Sounds tough, but in reality, not so much!

It’s a recipe that’d be great for anyone looking to put a twist on the classic Thanksgiving staple – Pumpkin Pie.  It only takes about an hour from start to finish, so there’s still time!  If you’d like a step-by-step run down on how to make this cake, tune in to KOIN Channel 6 today at 4:15p.m. and watch Jackie demo it live on air.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Country Cat’s Pumpkin Upsidedown Cake by Jackie Sappington

You’ll need:

• 10-inch cake
• 2-3 medium ripe pears, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/8’s
• 3 TBS unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup golden raisins
• 3 TBS. rum
• 1 ¼ cups + 1T All-purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¾ tsp grated nutmeg
• ¾ cup pumpkin puree
• 6 ounces unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups white sugar
• 3 eggs

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Over low to medium to heat, place cake pan over heat.  Add the 3 Tablespoons of butter and brown sugar.  Gently stir and and incorporate butter and sugar to make a caramel.  Remove from heat and add pears in concentric circles in the pan.  Set aside.
• Soak the raisins in the rum and set aside.  Mix together the dry ingredients and set aside.
• Using a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar.  Scrape down the sides and add the eggs one at a time. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and pumpkin puree  to butter mixture.  Add dry ingredients in 2 batches.  Add the rum from the plumped raisins.  Stir in the raisins.
• Spread batter over pears evenly, making sure they are all covered.
• Place in the middle of the oven and bake 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when stuck in the middle of the cake.
• When cake is done, let sit for 5 minutes.  Place a serving platter or large plate over the cake and gently flip over the pan. Tap the cake pan to help the fruit release from the pan.  Gently lift the pan off the cake.  If any fruit is still stuck to the pan just place it on top of the cake.
• Serve with vanilla whipped cream.

Enjoy!

We had a nice visit from our client Tim Schaffner (of Schaffner Press) who is in town on a book tour with author Mark Christensen.  Christensen’s most recent non-fiction novel “Acid Christ: Ken Kesey, LSD, and the Politics of Ecstasy” is receiving critical acclaim and stirring up some controversy.  In fact, Christensen’s article in the Huffington Post has nearly 700 posts.  If you missed him at Powell’s last night, Christensen will be speaking at Lewis & Clark College this evening at 7 p.m.

(left to right) Tim Schaffner and Mark Christensen