Oscar Dinner at The Hills Market

Another wonderful food event at Hills Market. The premise of the dinner, was to provide courses inspired by each of the five 2008 Oscar Nominees for Best Picture. Jill Moorhead (Hills Market Marketing Director), who had patiently watched each movie looking for food references, admitted how hard it had been as none of this years nominations really seemed to feature food. Certainly there was no Babette’s Feast for inspiration. I was prepared for the thought that had been put into the food menu, but was amazed by the care taken with the wine selections. Each of the four wines paired with the meal also had some movie connection. 

The evening featured the excellent company and expert insights of  three film critics from WCBE 90.5 FM: John DeSando, co-host for “It’s Movie Time” and “Cinema Classics”, Johnny DiLoretto, co-host for “Cinema Classics” and entertainment reporter at Fox 28 TV, Kristin Dreyer Kramer, co-host for “It’s Movie Time” and editor-in-chief of NightsAndWeekends.com and Clay Lowe, WCBE and nightsandweekends.com contributor and owner of the most amazing laugh I have ever heard. 

We started off with a delicate and delicious sparkling wine: Francis Coppola “Sofia” Blanc de Blancs, 2007, (California). Sofia Blanc de Blancs began as a gift from a father to his daughter – I think the movie link here is obvious! 

The first course was a mildly spiced and okra-laden turkey Gumbo, inspired by “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, which I enjoyed more than the movie. 

German cabbage salad, inspired by “The Reader” (the only movie of the set I hadn’t seen). The cabbage salad was served with the best sauerkraut balls I have ever had (albeit not a large sample) with the added touch of bacon (or ham?) which lifted them way above the typical bar offering. The wine pairing was a crisp fruity Sicilian white, Donnafugata Anthilia, 2006. Donnafugata translates as “Donna the fugitive” and is taken from the film “Il Gattopardo” (The leopard) with Burt Lancaster. 

Open faced chicken curry chapati with banana, inspired by “Slumdog Millionaire” and paired with Kame Rose of Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007, (Sonoma Valley). The chicken curry was my favorite dish of the evening and was essentially a well executed Coronation Chicken (a popular English dish – no wonder I liked it!). Slumdog Millionaire was also my favorite movie. The chapati was probably my least favorite item and was neither chapati-like, nor easily edible, but there was no shortage of food. The wine-movie connection was that Robert Kamen, the owner of the vineyard was also the screenwriter of films such as “Taps”, “The Karate Kid”, “The fifth element” and “A walk in the clouds”. 

Next was a mini bacon and avocado burger with caramelized onion, inspired by “Frost/Nixon” and paired with MacMurray Ranch Pinot Noir, 2007, (Central Coast). Sadly, Details has spoiled me for other sliders, but I remembered the burger scene from the movie. The movie-wine connection here is that the ranch was owned by Hollywood actor Fred MacMurray (I didn’t recognize the name, but certainly recognized his face and a lot of the movie titles when I looked him up). 

“Twinkie Defense” dessert, inspired by “Milk” – a cream filled angel-food-cake-esque creation at once both very chewy and very light. 

 It was a lot of fun, with the added bonus of prizes and take home movie tickets and posters. I’m still waiting for Clay to friend me on facebook, and incase you are wondering…… John correctly predicted that Slumdog Millionaire would win best picture.

I heart……

The love affair with Details continues….. especially now they have $5 (for 3) tuna tar tar tacos on tuesdays and $3 wings on wednesdays! My current favorite is the Old Fashioned sandwich, made with smoked pastrami beef brisket, sauerkraut, rye toast and dijonaise sauce. As you can see I am still working through the menu.

 

Wednesday Wings

French onion soup

‘Valentine’s’ was a feast of a weekend, with another round of taco truckin (mulitas and horchata – mmmm). Highlights were:

Wonderful sushi and Sashimi at Kikyo, where the sushi chef is quite the comedian (Prepare to be entertained if you sit at the sushi bar); The white tuna was a particular hit, miso fluke and another fish, that, stupidly, I can’t remember. 

Cheeses from Katzinger’s of which Humboldt Fog proved to be the favorite.  Humboldt Fog is the signature cheese of Californian cheese company, Cypress Grove, who have a range of goat cheeses including one of my other favorites Purple Haze. Also pictured are the crumbly aged Montgomery Cheddar, Australian Roaring Forties Blue and an 8-year old aged Gouda, whose purchase was inspired by last week’s Pistacia Vera tasting. Blue cheeses go so well on digestive biscuits. If you haven’t tried that combination I highly recommend it. 

The most anticipated treat of the weekend was salumi from Salumi Artisan Cured Meats in Seattle, which is run by Mario Batali’s father Armandino and can be mail ordered. 

The three varieties pictured above are the salumi salami (house salami with a touch of ginger), the finocchiona (cracked fennel, black pepper, and a touch of curry), and móle (chocolate, cinnamon, ancho, and chipotle). I apologize for the poor lighting. All three were wonderful in their own way and picking a favorite was hard, especially as I am sucker for ginger, black pepper and móle. Many, many thank yous to BB & AD. 

Sunday brunch was home made buckwheat blueberry pancakes with the remains of last summer’s blueberries from the freezer with amazing Thurn’s bacon and with lashings of maple syrup.

Dinner was Rancher Pie – a hungrywoolf original (?!) a riff on shepherd’s pie made with ground venison and buffalo. The venison was a kind gift from CMH Gourmand, who will be glad to know that it passed his test –  it was even better as left-overs (pictured below) the next day. 

Ranchers Pie: 
Mashed potatoes over a meat mixture of ground venison, ground buffalo, garlic, onion, celery, carrot and seasoned with beef bouillon,  beer (a glug out of the bottle I was drinking), red wine, herbs from the freezer (thyme, parsley, rosemary, oregano), salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce, marmite, unsweetened cocoa, cinnamon, agave syrup and tomato paste.

A Taste of Pistacia Vera at Hills Market

Orange, anis and cornmeal biscotti

I have been a fan of Pistacia Vera since I first visited their German Village shop last summer and I was excited when Hills Market announced that they were having a Pistacia Vera wine pairing event. As well as being a wonderful local/ gourmet grocery store, Hills Market has a lot of food events, including wine and cheese tastings, dinners, and cookery demonstrations. 

This event gave us the opportunity not only to eat amazing desserts but to learn more about Pistacia Vera from owners Spencer Budros and his sister Ann. Spencer is the pastry chef and Ann runs the business side. They have had the business (previously known as Pistachio and located in the Short North), for four years and last year moved to their new space on Third Avenue. Their passion, attention to detail and pride in their products were amazing and it was fascinating to hear Spencer talk about what he loves about pastry and desserts. We also learned a lot about how they choose flavors, the ingredients they use and how the business has evolved. 

There were six desserts, each introduced by Spencer and each was paired with a wine (or beer) by Hills Market wine director Constance Begue. It was a wonderful event and I fear that I cannot describe it without sounding sycophantic. We feared that eating six desserts would be too much of a good thing, but I can assure you that it was not.

1) Olive Oil Madeleine with candied fennel and citrus, paired with Marcal Cava Reserve NV (Spain). 
An excellent pairing with the citrusy notes in the cava complimenting the fresh citrus and lemon curd. Interesting anis note from the candied fennel and very fresh tasting.  

2) Apple galette with 3 year aged Gouda and rosemary sugar, paired with Hugel Gentil 2007 (Alsace, France). 
This was one of our favorite desserts and it is currently available in the store. The galette is made with Fuji apples, sliced very thinly and very tender. There is cheese in the pastry, as well as being served as a garnish and the rosemary sugar was a wonderful and fragrant touch. Overall it is not too sweet and I think we would all have happily eaten seconds or thirds. The wine was off-dry and fruity and a good accompaniment and the aged Gouda is available from Hills. 

3) Framboise macaron and passion fruit pate de fruit, paired with Framboise lambic beer (Belgium). 
Pistacia Vera are probably most famous for their macarons, which come in a rainbow array of colors and flavors and change with the seasons. I am a fan of lambics and so was more than happy with this pairing. Lambics are fruity Belgian beers that are made with wild yeast. They come in a variety of flavors (apple, cherry, cassis, peach and framboise). As an aside, Jeni’s have an award winning sour cherry lambic sorbet. Spencer explained a little of the 5 day process that is involved in making the perfect macaron and how the sequence of baking, drying and refrigerating give the optimum texture. In this case there were dehydrated raspberries in the shell to give color and flavor, and the filling is a french butter cream with Chambord (French black raspberry liqueur) and fresh raspberries. The pate de fruits is made by one of their employees and apparently requires a masters balance of science, artistry and patience. It is a pure fruit pectin jelly and they have some wonderful flavor combinations (I recommend the lemon pernod). I believe that both the macarons and pate de fruits are gluten free. 

4) Brown butter pistachio financier with candied Amarena cherry, paired with Fortress Vineyards Novateur 2007 (Lake County, California). 
The financier was my other favorite dessert and in this case I was lucky enough to get seconds! The flavor was more almond than pistachio with some salt, which brought out the flavor and was a great contrast to the sweetness, and some fresh thyme. The cherries are the same that are used as Details and are a league above any other maraschino cherry I have tasted. The dessert wine was interesting (70% semillon) and not overly sweet. Constance told us that her rule of thumb is to try to choose a wine sweeter than the dessert. 

5) Milk chocolate macadamia nut praline paired with (Jacuzzi Family Vineyards cabernet sauvignon 2006 (Sonoma County). 
This opera style torte is very sophisticated and luxurious and I have been lucky enough to have it before.  It is a wonderful combination of chocolate, caramel and butter cream and is light and smooth. It was topped with a wonderful salty, toasty nut brittle. The Sonoma cabernet  sauvignon was light and bright and not as robust as you would expect. The pairing worked a lot better than one might expect. Sonoma cabernet sauvignons have less tanin and more acidity than those from Napa. 

6) Valrhona 72% Araguani chocolate truffle with orange, bergamot and apricot preserve, paired with Dows Ruby Port NV (Portugal). 
Araguani is a new Valrhona artisan chocolate, not yet available for retail. Pistacia Vera are the largest consumer of Valrhona chocolate in Ohio. The truffle was amazingly smooth and they are hand rolled with a focus on flavor rather than form. They need to be refrigerated, but are apparently best served at room temperature.  The vibrant citrusy preserve was a good antidote to the richness of the chocolate. I have to confess that the truffle disappeared before I could really consider the merits of the pairing. 

Brown butter pistachio financier

Spencer and Ann seemed to enjoy having feedback on which flavors and desserts we enjoyed and hope to do more events such as this. They also encouraged us to visit their kitchen and see how the desserts are made for ourselves. The amaretti cookies are still my favorite, but I definitely see some more apple galette in my future. Perhaps needless to say, but I have gone from fan to devotee….

Blogging Backlog

This is my 100th post and I planned do something ‘special’ but really this is just a long overdue round up. I’m going to start with an apology for having had an unplanned hiatus and proceed with a synopsis of the last few weeks. I do have some exciting news – my blog is being included in a list of the best Columbus food blogs. I certainly have been busy, and you won’t be surprised to know that that has included quite a number of splendid food events and some delicious dinners. I haven’t been cooking much recently, except for copious batches of soup, the most recently favorite of which has been Heidi Swanson’s porcini mushroom soup. I have to admit I thought it was greatly improved by a generous glug of Madeira and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.   

I have been working on an academic project on taco trucks in Columbus and have been spending my weekend cruising the city with my co-conspirator CMH Gourmand. There will be a lengthy post on taco trucks in the future, but if you know of any taco trucks we should include in our search please let me know. I am developing quite a taste for tongue (lengua)!

The first of many many taco photos

On the subject of offal, I had a wonderful dinner at the Refectory a couple of weeks ago, the highlight of which was a sweetbread lasagne with celery root and whole grain mustard. All of the food was excellent but also of note was my companion’s perfectly cooked and tender veal. 

Sweetbread Lasagne

One of the food events I went to recently was a wine and cheese tasting at Hills Market, the first in a series and in this case focusing on Ohio wines and cheeses. Six wines, six cheeses with each cheese also being used to create an hors d’oeuvre. 

This year I forsook the Super Bowl, for a food event that I couldn’t resist: one of the monthly ‘Too many cooks’ series at Wild goose Creative. This month featured Jennie Scheinbach from Pattycake Bakery.

Jennie Scheinbach

Jennie taught us how to make amazing vegan toll house cookies and focused on different ways of substituting eggs. We had a toll house tasting feast trying out all the various different egg substitutions and Jennie explained the pros and cons of each method: silken tofu, ground flax seeds, commercial egg substitute, baking powder and oil. At the bakery they use a combination of ground flax seeds in water and processed silken tofu to given the optimal combination of moisture, softness, binding and texture.  Jennie was very convivial and shared anecdotes about founding the bakery in her home, over five years ago, and its subsequent growth and move to its current location in Clintonville.

Somewhere I have been a lot recently, and which has become a firm favorite is Details, a bar off-shoot of Rosendales. You can read a very full account of Details on CMH Gourmand.

Tuna Tar Tar Tacos

My list of favorite things at Details increases every time I go and is now almost half of the menu: Tuna Tacos, the chorizo chili with avocado butter and plantain chips, light as a feather pork rinds (like piggy pop-rocks), the succulent old-fashioned sandwich and the blondie, evocative of cinnamony apple crisp topping. Chef Drew is talented, creative and passionate about his food. He is happy to explain the hows and whys of his mastery and demonstrate his gadgets, such as the amazing anti-griddle. The creation which has really stolen my heart is his smoked maple syrup which I am happy just to sit and sniff.

Another staple is On-the-Fly , with the falafel still my go-to. The empanadas are perfectly portable and today I had a pureed carrot and black bean empanada that was to die for. 

Other recent highlights have been the chopped salad at Northstar – I had forgotten how good it was (lettuce, cabbage, almonds, applewood smoked turkey, bacon, blue cheese, apple with North star’s homemade foccacia and house-made dressing); Tom Yum at Bangkok on Refugee Road; Korean squid and barley tea at Diaspora on High Street (handy for campus); Jeni’s influenza sorbet (whiskey, ginger and fruit juice – has to be a winner) and sticky buns from Pattycake bakery.

A couple of recent discoveries have been the Banana Leaf Restaurant on Bethel Road, with its excellent indian-vegetarian lunch buffet, which includes a choice of  lassi and enough delicious food to have you rolling out the door afterwards; 

excuse the camera-phone photo

and Kickstart coffee in the Short North, which won me over with free coffee on the snow day. I love the space and the friendly service was a bonus.