It was yet another rainy Friday in Portland…a perfect day for the Watershed team to partake in a Foodie Friday escapade. Our Foodie Friday program was designed for educational purposes – to get us out of the office and into the industry, further extending our knowledge base. The more we have these experiences, the more value we can offer as experts.

We started off the day at Lovejoy Bakery, with a behind-the-scenes look at magazine production, led by Martha Holmberg, our newest team member and award-winning editor. Martha shared the ins and outs of how a “book” is created and filled us with valuable insight, while we noshed on flaky pastries and coffee.

Next, we headed over to the Art Institute, where Martha spearheaded a cooking class designed to hone our skills on finding balance between fat and acid. After we got equipped with aprons and lined the counters with the essential cooking tools and ingredients, we dove into the first recipe on our agenda, a rough puff pastry from Martha’s very own cookbook, Puff, which would be used for a rhubarb galette. Martha took us through a rough puff pastry demo and then everyone got started on their own…all except for me. Having a gluten sensitivity, I took on the project of making a strawberry rhubarb compote and prepping the rhubarb filling for the galette. See the recipe for the rough puff pastry below.

Then came the vinegar tasting (unfortunately we didn’t get any pucker-faced pictures). We lined up seven types of vinegar and tasted them individually, noting the variances in flavor, acidity and body. It was striking to taste the subtleties in the different varieties and better    understand the flavor of each one. We learned the proper ratio of vinegar to oil; 1:3 and that a dab of Dijon mustard is a great emulsifier and flavor addition to a dressing. With this knowledge in hand, we each picked our favorite vinegar and created our own vinaigrette for a mixed greens salad.

Next, we made a spring vegetable pasta. We blanched a variety of fresh spring veggies and created a sauce from chicken or veggie broth, green onion, lemon zest and heavy cream or crème fraiche (due to a dairy sensitivity as well, I omitted this part). We cooked up two batches of pasta—egg pappardelle and gluten-free brown rice spirals—to toss with the sauce and veggies. Finally, the moment we were waiting for had arrived…it was time to dish up our goodies and E-A-T! The food was delicious, flavorful and so fresh! It’ll be tough to beat, but let’s see what we can cook up for the next Foodie Friday!

Rough Puff Pastry

Great for tarts, galettes, turnovers, quiches

Makes about 1 pound; enough for two 9-inch tarts. You can make this
very quickly with a stand mixer and a paddle attachment, or by hand,
using a pastry scraper.

8 ounces cold unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup ice water
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes, spread out on a plate, and freeze
for about 15 minutes.

Mixer method: Combine the flour and the butter in a stand mixer fitted
with the paddle. Mix on low speed until the butter cubes are smashed up a bit and the chunks are about half their original size; don’t worry if the chunks aren’t uniform.
Stir together the water and salt until the salt is dissolved, then,
with the mixer running, slowly pour it into the flour and butter and
mix just until the dough barely holds together; don’t add all the
liquid until you’re sure you need it. The dough will look quite
shaggy.

Hand method: Toss the flour and butter in a wide bowl and cut the
butter into smaller pieces with a pastry scraper (also called a bench
knife) or a table knife. Pinch and press the mixture with your fingers
to encourage the butter to form flattened pieces. Stir together the
water and salt until the salt is dissolved, then gradually add the
liquid as you toss the flour mixture with a fork to evenly distribute
the liquid. Don’t add all the liquid until you’re sure you need it.
The dough may seem a little dry at first but it will come together as
you start rolling.

Dump the dough onto a floured counter and pat it into a rough
rectangle about 5 by 8 inches. Roll into a 5-by-16 inch rectangle,
lifting the dough after every few rolls to be sure it’s not sticking
to the counter and dusting the counter with more flour if it is
sticking.

With a soft pastry brush, brush off any excess flour from the surface,
then fold the bottom third of the dough up and the top third down,
like you’re folding a letter. Make sure all the corners are square and
all the edges of the dough line up neatly so the three layers are in
perfect alignment. Turn the dough 90 degrees to the right, so that the
open edge is on your left. This rolling, folding, and turning is
called a “single turn.”

Repeat the rolling and folding for three more single turns, each time
neatening up the edges of the dough with your palms to keep them
straight and snugging up the corners so they’re square, as well as
brushing off excess flour before you fold. Dust the block of pastry
with more flour, wrap it in plastic, and chill for at least 30
minutes.

Repeat for two final single turns, then chill at least another 30
minutes before rolling and baking.

Do ahead
You can make the pastry ahead and refrigerate for up to one day or
freeze for up to two months.

From Martha Holmberg

Hey we’re heading out for another fantastic Foodie Friday and this time it’s to client and friend, John Neumeister’s wonderful Cattail Creek Lamb farm.  If you’re a chef or curious foodie and want to join us for an educational day, give us a call at 503-827-6564.  We’re passionate about the provenance of meat and excited to go deeper into the subject with John and learn more about some exciting new projects on the horizon — think sheep grazing on vineyards during the winter, what a cool idea John!

Our Foodie Friday program was developed to get us out of the office and into the real work done by artisans and farmers in our area.  We find that the more we have real experiences with the people we most admire in the food and drink world, that the more value we can offer as experts. But the truth is, we simply like to learn and have a fun.  Please let us know if you have other suggestions of people and places you think we should check out.

Last Friday the LAD team packed up our bags and headed to NE Portland to embark on an adventurous (and surprising!) Foodie Friday.  The day began at 10:00 a.m. when we arrived at Pedal Bike Tours to meet with founder and our personal tour guide, Mr. Todd Roll.  We were fitted with our bikes and helmets and headed out to get a taste of both Pedal’s “Coffee Crawl” and “Emerging Hoods” tours.

Our first stop, Blue Gardenia Baking and Coffee Roasterie on North Mississippi.  Blue Gardenia roasts their coffee in-house and boy are their baked goods amazing! We each got an espresso and shared a few savory items – I would highly recommend the Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuit.

After Blue Gardenia, we hopped on our bikes and took off through the streets of North Portland, ridding by Sidebar, the new tasting room at the New Old Lompoc on N. Williams, and through the streets of the NE Irvington neighborhood.  Our destination, Tabla Mediterranean Bistro is on NE 28th.

We arrived at Tabla and we’re greeted by Chef Anthony Cafiero. He would be our pasta making teacher and host for the next few hours. But before we got started, Anthony freshly squeezed oranges and handed out mimosas, a perfect way to begin.

Anthony gave us each a cutting board, a bowl of flour and carton of eggs and demonstrated the steps it takes to make Tabla’s delicious pasta.  We cracked the eggs, scooped the flour, made volcanoes, stirred the gooey mix and kneaded the dough. Anthony showed us how to roll the noodles, cut them into pasta lengths and lay them out to dry.  We followed suit, some of us learning the tough lesson that you must over flour when rolling the noodles. Mine stuck together…

After the noodles were dried and cut into pieces, Anthony used our creations to make four amazing pasta dishes.  He made a simple truffle butter and parmigiano pasta; fresh English pea, lemon, and fresh ricotta pasta; mushroom, pine nuts and tarragon pasta; and a spicy pork, tomato, chili, basil, and grana padano pasta.

After we enjoyed our lunch we stumbled outside to find we were in the middle of a typical Oregon downpour. It was sunny that morning and we were on bikes! After a quick stop at Alma Chocolates we caught a break in the weather and took off on our return trip to Pedal.  We encountered some rain on the ride back, but overall the day had been a great experience as we toured the Eastside and learned how to make pasta from a very talented chef.

About a year ago, Lisa dreamed up and established the Foodie Friday tradition at LAD. One Friday every few months, the LAD team organizes a special foodie outing to feed our curiosity about the industry and extend our knowledge base as experts. We’ve baked foccacia with Nostrana, tasted beer and toured Raccoon Lodge and taken canning lessons at Lisa’s – it’s been good! A few weeks ago, Stewart and Athena Boedecker, Boedecker Cellars, invited us into their new Northwest winery, The Portland Wine Project, which they share with Grochau Cellars. Foodie Friday, perhaps? Yes, please.

With Lisa in San Francisco and Stephanie tied up at a meeting, Lota, Jackie, Shawn and I headed out to Northwest Portland for our first taste of Crush. First impression – I can’t wait for this tasting room to open! The space was modern and inviting. Even amongst the construction, the energy was contagious. The 10,000 sq/ft winery is a fantastic industrial loft-style space with floor to ceiling windows, tasting room, cellar and crush facility.

We started off the day in the main crush facility. Athena brought us over to the collection of massive fermentation tubs that needed to be punched down and pumped over.

This is when we were given our first task. I started out with punch downs. To do a successful punch down, I learned you must work the flat tool down through the huge tub of fermenting grapes to make sure the juice and skins stay mixed up. After ten minutes, my arms couldn’t take it anymore (quite the work out!) so I switched with Jackie who was doing pump overs. The pump over process takes the juice from the bottom of the barrel and pumps it over the top with a hose. Again, we did this for about 10 min each barrel.

After punch down and pump overs, it was time to sip. Stewart took us through an educational tasting of four fermenting tubs – three pinot noir (from different vineyards) and one syrah. We could taste the subtle differences between the pinots. Grapes from Carlton Hill tasted well-rounded and elegant. Grapes from Holmes Gap Vineyard tasted as vibrant and bouncy as the young winery.

After the tasting, we were presented with a less glamorous task…siphoning a pinot gris jug to separate the juice from left over sediment.

Lunch was delicious! Athena whipped up one of her favorite pasta recipes from her James Beard pasta cookbook, a nice green salad, Cypress Grove cheese with fresh bread and, of course, wine. It was the perfect end to our day in the life of a winemaker.

For more information about the Portland Wine Project, click here to read Mike Thelin’s article in Portland Monthly.