It's cold in them dere mountains

It's still pretty damn cold here in Montana...and rainy. Really, really rainy. We finally saw the sun yesterday but I've resorted to fall type stews and braises to keep everyone here warm from the inside out. It's amazing how something with such humble ingredients can be so satisfying to the soul. A hearty serving of Chicken Thighs braised with Prunes (recipe below) served over Whole Wheat Couscous speckled with Toasted Almonds and just a hint of fresh ground Cinnamon did a world of good.

Since the weather has been wet, lots of indoor activities have been required and one of my favorites is bread baking. This is a simple fougasse, topped with chopped nicoise olives, fresh garlic, parsley and thyme. Perfect for sopping up that last bit of juice from our chicken braise.


Dessert! Another warm dish, Raspberry Clafouti (recipe below). Delicious and fun to say, baked in individual ramekins and topped with Sour Cream Ice Cream (not in the picture). Hopefully we'll have better luck with the weather and we can set our sights on lighter fare and warmer weather.


Prune Braised Chicken
Yields-6 servings (can easily be doubled or tripled)

3 pounds of boneless, skinless Chicken Thighs, each thigh cut into 3-4 pieces (Feel free to use any boneless, skinless chicken parts you like, but dark meat holds up so much better in a braise. If you decide to use white meat, cut the cooking time dine by about 1/2.)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup (maybe less) all purpose flour
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 Carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick coins
2 onions, peeled and cut into large dice
2 stalks celery, peeled and cut into large dice
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 large stems thyme
1 large stem rosemary
1 cup prunes
1 cup white wine or brandy
4 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade or at the very least a "low sodium" store brand)
1/2 cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

In a small bowl, soak the prunes in the white wine or brandy, 20-30 minutes. In a large bowl toss prepared chicken with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Once coated evenly with S&P toss with enough flour to coat. Heat a large, deep saute pan or dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the olive oil, and when hot, brown the chicken pieces in batches, transferring the browned chicken to the side. Once all chicken in browned and set to the side, add the prepared vegetables to the pot. Reduce the heat to medium. You should have enough oil left from browning the chicken but if you need to add more, do it now. Cook the vegetables till just soft, keep them from browning if you can. Transfer the cooked veggies to the browned chicken pan with the slotted spoon. Drain any remaining oil from the pan. Remove the pan from heat, add the prunes with the brandy or white wine, return to the heat and cook for 2-3 minutes. (It's VERY important to move the pan off the heat while adding the prunes-especially if they are in brandy-eyebrows are a very important part of your face-watch for flaming alcohol.) Add the chicken stock and herbs, bring to a boil and then add the chicken and veggies that were set to the side. Cook for 45 minutes at a slow simmer, covered. At the very end fold in the chopped parsley, taste for salt and pepper and serve hot over rice, noodles or couscous. Sliced, toasted almonds make for a great textural garnish! Need a little more flavor, try adding a teaspoon or two of Dijon or Whole Grain Mustard at the end to finish the sauce without extra salt.

Raspberry Pecan Clafouti
Yields-8 individual desserts

1/2 cup Pecans (don't like pecans, switch it out for any other nut-hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds etc.)
2 Tablespoons All Purpose Flour
pinch Salt
1/2 cup granulated Sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 Cup Heavy Cream
2 pints Raspberries (again, don't like raspberries, try blues, blacks, currants, halved cherries even sliced stone fruits are delicious-apricots!)

In a food processor combine the pecans, flour, salt and sugar. Process till pecans are finely ground, but take care not to over process the nuts, they will eventually turn to paste. Once well ground, add the remaining wet ingredients and process till smooth. That's it! Really, this is a great, 5 minute prep time recipe. The best part is that the batter can be made up to 6 hours ahead. Great for a dinner party, when you serve your entree, pop these in the oven and by the time dinner is over you'll have a hot and delicious dessert.

About the cooking....to bake prepare 8, 4-6 ounce ramekins by lightly spraying with Pam and then dusting with sugar to coat. Place on a sheet pan. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, divide the fruit among the ramekins, divide the batter amongst the fruited ramekins and bake for 15-20 minutes. Top with whipped cream or ice cream to serve.

A Creole Tomato in Montana

Creole Tomatoes are one of the best things about summer in New Orleans. The best thing for me about the summers is spending them in Montana. What's a girl to do-torn between her tomatoes and her environment? The solution for me...packing 20 pounds of Creole Tomatoes between dresses, shirts, socks and nightgowns. While I was somewhat concerned with the stain resistance of my clothing, my need for Creoles outweighed any items that could have become speckled with tomato seeds and sweet tomato juice. Luckily I arrived, with my tomatoes, both of us unscathed. Only one lonely tomato was squished. I can just imagine the face of the bag inspector as he pillaged through my garments-finding more tomatoes than clothes. If he was smart he would have kept one for lunch.

Since I have been here now a few weeks, the tomatoes didn't last too long and the few that remained were looking a bit worse for wear. I decided to slow roast them (recipe below) and use them on a open face turkey sandwich that we enjoyed paired with a Tomato and Watermelon Salad (overdone I know, but delicious all the same). The sandwich was served on thick whole grain-seeded bread picked up at the local farmers market, oven roast turkey, the slow roast tomatoes, Napa Cabbage slaw and topped with Smoked Mozzarella. Yum!

Slow roasted Tomatoes are perfect for countless applications and they are a great way to savor the summer for months after its end. Great on Pizzas, chopped into relishes for Fish or Pork, used to make uber rich tomato sauce, or just kept marinated in olive oil in the fridge for the occasional sandwich made special.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes

3-4 Tomatoes, cored and cut into fat 1/2 inch to inch thick slices
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Freshly ground Black Pepper
Herbs-fresh and chopped (use your favorite combination, I love parsley, lemon thyme and soft rosemary)

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Place the sliced tomatoes on a silpat lined sheet pan (you can use parchment paper as a substitute), drizzle the tomatoes with the olive oil, sprinkle with the salt, pepper and your choice of fresh chopped herbs. Bake for 2-3 hours, even 4 if you want a drier result. Allow the tomatoes to cool before storing. If you are making a large batch and want to keep them marinated in the fridge, use gloved hands (the first aid kind, not the fuzzy mitten type) to place the roasted tomatoes in a tupperware container and cover them with olive oil. Press a piece of parchment paper directly on top and remove tomatoes as needed with a slotted spoon. DON'T use your dirty little paws, once you introduce bacteria into the batch they won't last long. And don't even think of tossing out the delicious oil when the tomatoes are gone. Use in vinaigrette's, as a marinade for a piece of fish or beef, or just used as a dip for some crusty bread. It's also great swirled into soups at the last minute, for making pesto or cooking eggs. The possibilities are endless!

Rocky Point Bee Project

The newest addition to The Point this year....Bees!!! Jessi-breakfast cook and Gardener extraordinaire has decided to add even more to her plate. I'll let her take it from here..."I have been interested in beekeeping for several years and have always hoped to have my own apiary when my husband and I finally build our home. This winter a friend came to me wondering if I wanted to take over some of her equipment to keep bees here on the point and in turn care for her bees when she moved to Utah. I dove in head first, attended a course put on by the Montana State horticulture department and began reading everything I could get my hands on.


I was pleased to discover that our little town here in Montana actually has a bee supply store. Western Bee is able to provide everything from instructional books to actual bees. The bees arrive in town once a year in early May. Orders for bee packets must be made by late February or early March. The bees come in a simple screened box with about three pounds of bees, a can of syrup, and a queen caged at the center. Bees should be installed either early morning or late in the day so that they will cluster together to protect their queen and keep her warm. The queen cage is blocked with a small cork that can be removed with a safety pin and replaced with a small marshmallow. The worker bees eat the marshmallow to release their queen, all the while adjusting to her scent and beginning to build comb for her to lay eggs in. I banded the queen cage to one of the frames and placed the open bee box inside the super. Two days later, I remove the bee box and filled the empty space with the remaining frames. The bees were busy drawing comb and collecting pollen.


Since installation our bees have suffered some tough times. Their queen was lame (wasn’t producing eggs quickly enough) so the colony killed her and attempted to build a new queen. I ended up ordering a new queen from Tate’s honey farm and installing her. Less than twenty-four hours after installing the new queen a bear attacked the hive. I was able to rescue about a third of the hive and locate the queen. After re-assembling the hive, I rushed off to procure and install an electric fence. I was able to find a solar powered system and pounded posts for a small square perimeter. Since the fence went up the bear has left the hive alone; but fellow beekeepers have warned that once a bear knows what is inside a hive they may be willing to take a hit from the electric fence. Today the bees are busy trying to re-establish their hive and draw out comb to build the colony. I am hopeful that they will be able to build up the brood and maybe make enough honey to last the winter; but I doubt we will be able to harvest at all this season. The friend whose hive I am caring for has invited us to harvest from her hive so we will have some fresh local honey for Kristen to make amazing things with." Thanks Jessi!

I've been so inspired by the bee project that I will be following in Jessi's footsteps when I return to New Orleans. We can do a taste test with Big City and Little City Honey next summer! Big thanks are also due to Mr. Fountain (a handsome picture of him below)-a true lover of bees and full of all kinds of amazing bee knowledge-who helped us both with all the questions that we had for him.

Summer 8 for me-Summer 100 for the town!

Summer eight...it hardly seems possible! Life has been very good to me and every summer it continues to get better and better! I arrived back in Montana on Monday afternoon and after a sprint thru the local Costco and Good Food Store we (Jessi and I) headed back to The Point.

I was relieved of my cooking duties for Monday evening so yesterday was my first meal of the summer season. Lunch was a beautiful bisque of Asparagus and Crab paired with a salad of Frissee, roasted Walnuts, French Green Lentils, crumbled Goat Cheese and Sherry Vinaigrette topped with a poached Egg. Dessert was a simple plate of sliced Pineapple topped with Strawberry Whipped Cream.

After a long, long nap, dinner prep started. We enjoyed Herb and Whole Grain Mustard crusted Rack of Lamb served with Bacon braised Cabbage and Garlic roast Yellow Potatoes, finished with a Rosemary Lamb Jus.

Our chilly weather (lows in the 40's...brrrrrr) paired perfectly with our dessert of hot from the oven Fiji Apple Crisp topped with Blue Cheese Caramel (recipe below) and sweet whipped Cream.
A few of the guests questioned my Blue Cheese Caramel, but the pairing of the sweet, thinly sliced apples with the salty bite of the caramel quickly reassured them that this pairing was a classic for a reason. Many a slice of Apple Pie has been graced with a slice of Cheddar, so the leap to Blue Cheese wasn't a long one.

Blue Cheese Caramel
Yields: about 1 1/2 cups

1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
1/3 cup Water
1 1/4 cups Heavy Cream
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
2-3 ounces crumbled Blue Cheese

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, mix the water and sugar. Cover and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a medium brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Gradually, and with great caution, add the cream and the vanilla extract. Simmer until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth and thick, about 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the blue cheese. Serve warm, or add another 1/4 cup of heavy cream and serve room temperature.
**I like to transfer the warm, prepared caramel to a glass Pyrex measuring cup, and place it in a bain marie over low heat (see the first picture above). I place a paper towel in the bottom of the pot to protect the Pyrex cup and keep the caramel warm.