Tomatoes in Waiting

Mrs. Rocky Point returns from a brief trip to New York today, so I am starting the Tomato brainstorming process.

First up, get all those pretty Tomatoes in a row. Ready to inspire, destined to delight!

Before Martha Finds it...

I had to add one more post about a truly unique find at the Farmers Market yesterday-a beautiful looking flower. It turned out to be a wild growing member of the lily family called Bear Grass. According to some online research that I found Bear Grass typically grows in large, dense patches among lodgepole pine, subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce trees at elevations above 5,000 feet. It is found in the Northern Rockies, the Cascade and Coastal ranges, and the Sierras as far south as central California. Every few years, in June and July, it propagates offshoots from a creeping underground stem called a rhizome (RY-zome, from the Greek word for root). These give rise to sturdy green stalks that brighten the subalpine forest understory with large racemes (clusters) of small, delicately scented, creamy-white flowers. After the bloom is over, the offshoot plants die.

To put it plainly, they are just breathtaking! So look for this hard to find, difficult to source, sure to be the must have wedding floral in a Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine very soon!

To Market we go!

Every Saturday there is a fantastic Farmers Market in the city of Kalispell. Jessi and I made a trip out this weekend in a desperate search for Tomatoes. While all of my friends and neighbors back home in New Orleans are knee deep in Creole Tomatoes, finding a homegrown Tomato in the great state of Montana is a difficult task.

Luckily we arrived 20 minutes before the market started, just in time to take our place in the dramatically long line for...TOMATOES!!

Aqua Gardens, run by husband and wife team of Ron and Kelley Zimmerman, supplies us with their beautiful, hydroponically grown red and yellow tomatoes and new this year, English Cucumbers.

The Tomatoes, looked like soft jewels and the Cucumbers are some of the best I have every tasted. I love that they individually hand wrap them in saran wrap to mimic the cellophane wrapped English Cukes that you find at the grocery!

We were also able to pickup freshly dug New Potatoes, Arugula, Red Spring Onions, and Radishes.

How about some scenery?

Here's the view from my cabin. Waking up to views like this really makes the morning even better!

Lake View Garden

Well here she is, our beautiful lake front garden! Jessi, our breakfast cook and Gardner extraordinaire has spent a lot of time and energy making this garden as productive as possible.

This year Jessi has included in the garden, Sunflowers, Sweet Peas, Green Pole Beans, Cushaw (also known as the "above ground tater")Peppers, Tomatillos, Tomatoes, Strawberries, Zucchini, Lettuce, Arugula, Chard, Kale, Garlic, Carrots and few other goodies that I am sure I'm leaving out.

The garden is a multi-level organic, surrounded by walls of chicken wire, to keep out the pesky deer. Each row starts and ends with Marigolds-natures bug control. The strawberries are hanging this year, to keep pug Henry from wiping out the Strawberry harvest and the roses in the front are purely decorative and now almost completely aphid free after the biodegradable dish soap water rinse that Jessi applied a few days ago. Mrs. Rocky Point is rose lover and she will use them to decorate the house for her guests. I will be experimenting with home made rose sugars and syrups.

Thai'ed up in the Mountains

A little something different for dinner tonight... Shrimp Laska!

This spicy, creamy Coconut rich soup really hit the spot when the temperature dipped just a bit. Traditionally this dish is made with a Glass or Rice noodle. I had Buckwheat Somen and when it takes 1/2 an hour to get to the grocery you make do with what you have!

The dish is really very simple, made better with the addition of an Asian inspired Shrimp Stock and fresh herbs.

Your base is made of a paste composed of Coriander, Peppercorns, Asian Chilies, Lemongrass, Shallots etc and toasted in a large saute pan, Shrimp are added and cooked and then lots of Coconut Milk and your Shrimp Stock. I added a julienne of Carrot, Cucumber and Red Pepper and topped off the dish with chopped Cilantro and a chiffonade of Thai Basil and Mint.

Back to those Crawfish...

After a few more days of trapping we had a few pounds of live Crawfish to work with and I set to making Crawfish stock for bisque, shelling the tails for meat, scraping the heads for fat and cleaning out the heads for stuffing.

A two day process at least, it was well worth the effort.

I rinsed the Crawfish and soaked them in cold water a few times to get them as clean as possible. After a cold water soaking, I placed them on the stove in a large pot filled with water, fresh Bay Leaf, lots of Salt and sliced Lemon. I brought them up to a boil ( with the lid on),let them simmer for 10 minutes, then turned off the heat and let them sit for 20 minutes. The water was strained off and the Crawfish were peeled and prepped for all of the above applications.

Crawfish Stock started with the shells, fresh Lemon, Celery, Onion, Carrot, Fennel, Thyme, Bay Leaf, Peppercorns and Parsley Stems. I brought this lovely concoction up to a boil and let the stock simmer for 45 minutes. Crawfish stock may not have the nicest of hues when finished, but it adds more flavor than anything else.

The stuffing, you can find the recipe below, was made and the heads were stuffed. Traditionally, only the thorax of the Crawfish is used, but if you can get all the head "gunk" out of the heads, I leave the heads on for a more formal presentation.

The bisque, made very classically but finished with a few shots of Brandy was served with Brown Rice and the stuffed heads. Delicious!

Freshly Grown...

Never underestimate the power of freshly grown Lettuce. The Spring Lettuce mix has just started popping down in the lake view garden. A simple salad accompanies most of our meals, but the lettuce alone is worth a pretty picture. This mix contains, Red Leaf, Oak Leaf, Mizuna & Green Leaf lettuces.

Simply dressed with a drizzle of Lemon Juice, Olive Oil, salt and freshly ground Pepper you can't ask for a better way to start a meal.

Crawfish Trapping Montana Style...

Rumors of the freshwater Crawfish to be found in the surrounding glacial lakes prompted Mr. Rocky Point to start laying traps. Much to my surprise he came back with about 3 dozen Montana crawfish. You never really think about crawfish in Montana but in New Orleans we use them as much as we possibly can while they are in season.

The Crawfish that we have been trapping are much darker in contrast to the murkey red mudbugs from Louisiana. Hopefully, as the weather and water warms we will be able to procure them in greater numbers.

For now, we have them soaking and we will be enjoying the few that we have in a bisque and most importantly stuffing the heads! Get a first hand look at the Crawfish in the video below.

This is what happens....

This is what happens when you feed the dog from the table! Many thanks to Pug Henry for
perfecting her begging skills this summer!

Meat on the Bone

There really is nothing like meat cooked on the bone! As a gift, a few of the guests had some absolutely beautiful bone-in Veal Loin Chops sent to the lodge from Allen Brothers. (www.allenbrothers.com)

So for dinner we enjoyed... Thyme and Orange marinated & grilled Veal Loin Chops served with a savory Morel Mushroom & Asparagus Bread Pudding sauced with Veal Jus.

The chops could not have been more delicious. Perfectly cooked (if I do say so myself) and enjoyed all the way down to the bone.

The bread pudding was inspired by a book that I just finished by Barbara Kingsolver called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. A truly amazing book that documented the life of Mrs. Kingsolver and her family as they spent a year procuring as much of their food from neighboring farms and their own backyard. I highly recommend the book, it is an inspiring look on how much we are missing in the short trip from fork to mouth. (www.animalvegetablemiracle.com)

Below is the recipe for the Morel Mushroom Bread Pudding, I have made a few changes from the original recipe provided by Deborah Madison that was included in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Book. Eat Well!

Morel Mushroom & Asparagus Bread Pudding

3 cups skim milk
4 egg yolks
2 egg whites, whipped lightly
2 cups grated Gruyere cheese
1 baguette, torn into 1/2 inch pieces
Salt and freshly, ground Black Pepper
3 Tablespoons unsalted Butter
1 Pound Asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 Pound Morel Mushrooms, washed & roughly chopped if large
1/2 cup chopped Parsley

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl whisk together the Milk, Egg Yolks, grated Cheese, Salt and Pepper. Add the torn Baguette to the bowl, toss to combine and allow to sit for at least 2o minutes.

In a saute pan, heat the Butter over medium heat and cook the Shallots for 2-3 minutes. Add the Asparagus, cooking for 1-2 minutes followed by the Morels, cooking until they are just wilted. Season with Salt and Pepper, allow to cool to room temperature.

Once the Morel/Asparagus mixture is cool, toss with the soaking Bread, fold in the Parsley and then fold in the whipped Egg White.

Divide the Bread Pudding between 10 greased 6 ounce ramekins and bake in the preheated 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. Serve either in the ramekin or unmolded. Alternatively the Bread Pudding can be baked in a greased casserole dish for 45-50 minutes and served family style.

Eat Well!

Time for Lunch

As I mentioned in an earlier post I am doing my best to watch our sodium and fat intake this year. Another way I am accomplishing this mission is to control portion sizes.

In the past I have plated all of our dinners, restaurant style, and left lunch as a buffet. Buffets be damned, I am plating everything this year. Portion control plays a huge role in diet and I am going to give it a whirl!

For lunch today we didn't invent the wheel. We enjoyed...Dill and Lemon Marinated Chicken Breasts with a salad of Montana grown Spinach, shaved Cucumbers, thinly sliced Shallots, chopped Kalamata olives, toasted Almonds, and crumbled Spanish Goat Cheese all tossed with a Dijon Tahini Vinaigrette.

Meat on a Stick

Who doesn't like a kebab? One of our first dinners here at the lodge was this delicious dish... Grilled Pork Loin and Red Onion Kebab glazed with a Curried Peach BBQ Sauce and served on a bed of Sweet Potato Puree and Wilted Spinach.

I am doing my best this year to watch our fat and sodium intake this year and this BBQ sauce was a great way to achieve that.

The pork was cubed and marinated in a fresh Cilantro from the herb garden (Did I mention that Jessi, our wonderful breakfast cook and Gardner extraordinaire also grows all the herbs, a majority of our lettuce, tomatoes and other goodies? More on Jessi and here gardens to come.) then threaded with Red Onion. Grilled for 2-3 minutes per side and then glazed with the BBQ Sauce. A fun, flavorful change of pace. The recipe is below. Enjoy!


Curried Peach BBQ Sauce:

1 Tablespoon curry powder
2 Peaches, peeled, cubed
4 Tablespoons canola oil
2 Tablespoon tomato paste ( I always use no salt or low-sodium)
2 Tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

In a small sauce pot, toast the Curry Powder over medium heat until fragrant. In a blender combine the cubed, peeled Peaches, Canola Oil, Tomato Paste, Honey and Vinegar. Add to the sauce pot with the toasted Curry Powder and cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes. Ready to go!

This sauce would also be great as a condiment, I think it would be great on a Turkey Burger!?

Have you noticed...

So I am going to be very upfront and admit that I forgot to pack the cord that attaches from the computer to the camera (I'm sure that there is a technical term for that particular dohicky; but I'm a chef.) making the downloading of pictures for the blog difficult.

So, I am taking today June 27th, to catch us up on everything that has been going on up here for the past few weeks.

So pardon our date stamp and lets all just pretend that I have been on top of this blog from the beginning!

The view from my kitchen window...

The view from my kitchen window has definitely made a change for the summer. I arrived in Montana after a long day of flying, knives packed and dog drugged, ready to start a summer of
Rocky Point cooking.

The lodge, Rocky Point Lodge, where I will be cooking is the home to a wonderful family from the state of Texas. New Orleans and Monroe natives, this
family has been traveling to Northern Montana for over 15
years and I have had the pleasure of cooking for them for the
past 5.

Last year, I started a daily journal entry on my website-nolabean.com, documenting our daily lunch and dinner menus as well as commentary on the locally available produce and the "goings on" around the lodge.

So here is the view from my summer kitchen window, I hope you will enjoy the view with me through the pictures and recipes that I leave for you here.

Eat well!