Deconstructed Ratatouille

According to the Foodie Buddha, “at the heart, any deconstructed dish should contain all the classic components found in the original.” Here’s how Deconstructed Ratatouille came to be.  Back in 1995, when we first moved to Amador County we lived in a darling house on Spanish Street, Sutter Creek, for six months from July through December. Each Saturday we would get up and walk to the Farmers’ Market. One day we bought a basket that included a recipe for Ratatouille along with most of the ingredients. It was a stovetop version and our first experience both preparing and eating Ratatouille. We all loved it, but only made it a few times after that.

Several years later we tried our friend Sally’s baked Ratatouille and fell in love again. Hers was a casserole with a rich marinara sauce, alternating layers of eggplant, green bell pepper, zucchini, bits of bacon, and grated cheese. Delicious! But, like all good things, it can be overdone and we managed to do just that a few years ago. Every Tuesday throughout the summer Verne and I would stop at Davis Ranch where I’d buy more produce than we could possibly eat in a week. You know the saying: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade? Our saying was: When you’ve got eggplant, zucchini, and bell peppers, make Ratatouille. We definitely overdid a good thing!

We’re back making our weekly trips to Davis Ranch, but we’re not ready for Sally’s Ratatouille. We did buy an eggplant a few weeks ago for one of my favorites, Eggplant Parmesan. And then it hit me…while our stomachs are not ready for Sally’s Ratatouille and it’s, albeit, an incredible amalgamation of flavors, we could create our own deconstructed version using the basic ingredients…the stars of the dish (red sauce, eggplant, and zucchini). By literally building on the Eggplant Parmesan with a topping of diced zucchini sautéed in butter and olive oil, sprinkled with bits of browned bacon, and finished with a chiffonade of fresh basil, I believe we’ve created a simpler (strike that…it’s actually only simpler in appearance; it's far more complex to make) and more elegant Ratatouille.

Briefly, here’s the process for making Deconstructed Ratatouille:

1.     SAUCE:  I put by tomatoes every summer when they’re plentiful by roasting/dehydrating them in the oven. The finished product is a concentrated, intensely flavorful addition to any sauce or may be used as an appetizer. Here’s how you do it: Thinly slice Romas and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, top with dried Italian spices, salt and pepper, and bake at 325 degrees for about two or three hours…until they’ve dehydrated, but still moist. Freeze what you don't use in a quart bag to enjoy throughout the year. Add a few spices and a little wine, puree, reduce a bit on the stovetop and WahLah!…you’ve got a delicious Marinara. Plan the better part of a morning preparing the tomatoes and then the sauce. Here they are ready to go in the oven...

and ready to go in the sauce or freezer...

2.   CHEESES: Finely grate a blend of Parmesan and Asiago cheeses. Thinly slice fresh Mozzarella.

3.   EGGPLANT (the Star): Peel and thinly slice a large eggplant, place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, heavily salted, and let rest and weep for about ½ hour. Rinse the salt and dry with clean paper towels. Prepare three shallow dishes: an egg wash, flour, Panko crumbs/cheese mixture. Dip eggplant in each and fry until golden brown. Set aside.

4.   Assemble by stacking the eggplant, sauce, and cheeses three high. Bake.

5.  TOPPINGS: Prepare and set aside...Fry the bacon bits until just done. Chiffonade the fresh basil. Just prior to serving, saute the finely diced zucchini.

6.   Plate the creation by pooling a bit of the reserved sauce, placing one of the stacked Eggplant Parmesan, top with the remaining ingredients, finish with a bit of the grated cheese.

BON APPETIT! Our good friend and dinner guest, Neil, doing just that...

If you want to give this a try, I’ll send you the recipe with more detailed instructions. Better yet, just join us for dinner!

Amador County Fair

I should rename this blog Moser Good Eats and Good Times. Verne and I spent Friday morning at the Amador County Fair where we had a good time, but no good eats and to Verne’s chagrin, no beer! However, even if the Budweiser stand had been open he would have grumbled that they didn’t serve Deschutes Pale Ale, his latest, favorite beer. (Guess we’ll have to move to Bend, home of Deschutes Brewery!) It’s been a while since we’ve been to the Fair. After eight consecutive years with arts, crafts, and animal entries, with the latter requiring twice daily trips to the fairgrounds to feed and groom, as well as clean stalls, we took a well-deserved hiatus from the event.

We started our day with a tour of the animal barns. It was a trip down memory lane. A sign I saw later that morning was fitting: Living in the Past Lane. For the most part, we live in the present, but our walk through the barns with all of the pigs, lambs, cows and teenaged kids tending to the critters brought rise to happy memories of the girls and their 4-H animal projects throughout junior high and high school.  I took a few pictures of a very photogenic pig and then decided I’d spend some time on the weekend looking through old Fair photos of the girls.

After watching an antique tractor parade (right up Verne’s alley) we walked to  Pokerville Hall and checked out the arts and crafts exhibits. I think it’s time I entered my quilts and painted textiles and maybe my jam. I’m not sure about the latter, but the quilt display was unimpressive and the art entries weren’t much better. I think I have a chance at a few first place ribbons. One year I took first, second, and third…we still laugh about that. There were only three entries in that particular category and they were all mine!

We moved on to the old engine display where Verne walked from one exhibit to another and stood and watched and listened to the antique engines run. Spit and sputter is a more accurate description. I know it sounds crazy, but we actually spent an hour in the hot sun looking at this stuff (okay, maybe it only felt like an hour). Amador County has a club called Early Day Gas Engine and Tractors. It’s mind-boggling! Even more so, Verne qualifies for membership as he has an old gas engine that is completely restored and in working condition just like the ones exhibited. I think he’d fit right in with the old geezers.

We forgot to walk through the Poultry Barn, but then I have my own poultry barn with 35+ chickens. It was good to be back at the Fair, which was made better by free admission and parking as Friday was Senior Day! 

P.S. I looked for the hundreds of old Fair photos I was sure we had and only found a handful. Verne reminded me that those were the early days of digital cameras and definitely prior to cell phone cameras. Until I get out the photo boxes that hopefully have a few more of the girls at the Fair, here's one from 10+ years ago of Jana, Lauren, and their young friend, Jacey, shearing a lamb for Fair...

On the Road Again - Part II

Home for three days and then back on the road. Thursday morning we got up early and drove to Santa Monica and stayed in Jana's new apartment just a mile from the ocean. Having left temperatures in the 100's, it was a nice reprieve with daytime temps in the mid-70's. While Jana lawyered, we worked her to-do list: running errands, hanging pictures, fixing a few boo-boo's around the apartment, and, of course, taking care of her precious kittens, Olive and Izzy! Both Thursday and Friday evenings Jana and Bashir treated us to great meals...maybe that's because we wore signs that said: Will Work for Food! 

The first night we went to Casablanca, where we had fabulous margheritas made at the table and freshly made flour tortillas with a unique green sauce with bits of cheese. That was just for starters! This was not your run-of-the-mill Mexican restaurant. For example, Casablanca is well known for it’s dozen or so entrees featuring calamari. Friday night we went to Musha's (Japanese, Asian fusion), where we had no less than ten courses...all small plates. Several were prepared at the table by the server, or, in one case by Verne (hot-rock cooking). One example, just to give an idea of the creative food we enjoyed...Takotama ("Musha's signature dish! Two layered omelette with chopped octopus, leeks, red ginger and bonito broth, covered with their original thick dark sauce. At first we thought the place was over-the-top Noisy! with the servers fast-walking as they bring and prepare orders and occasionally shouting out something in "Asian-fusion-speak", completely unintelligible to anyone other than other servers. Within an hour we just thought the place was Alive! and were happy we hadn't been seated in a private room, as was originally planned. What an experience! We can’t wait to go back. We enjoyed two bottles of wine with dinner that had been saved for a special occasion and two bottles of Sake, one traditional and the other unfiltered. From now on, it’s only unfiltered Sake for me! Here are a few pictures from our evening…

Saturday morning we fed the kitties and were off to Santa Barbara for a craft event called “Art on the Mesa.” This time we were not there to browse and shop, but instead we were participants. “We” being Sally, Sandy, and me. Combined, we had well over a hundred items, the bulk of which were our fabric market bags. Fortunately, we had very low expectations going into this event, so we were happy with our nine sales. Of course, I should clarify…six of the nine were less-than-independent third parties. Before we even arrived at the Mesa and set up our canopy and tables, we’d each sold a bag. Neil, one of the most thoughtful people I know, had called Sandy and told her he wanted to buy three bags…one from each of us! So cute! Next, one of Sandy’s close friends from Sutter Creek was visiting her son and stopped by to chat and…yes, to buy a couple of bags and a baby quilt. The final three sales were truly independent and each buyer was very enthusiastic about our creations. I had four of my painted pillows on display, including Molly, and five people expressed interest in commissioning portraits of their pets. We’ll see where that leads. But, again, it is best to set one’s expectations low. The vote of confidence was very encouraging, though, and I’ve come home with a renewed commitment to paint more animal portraits and get my Etsy site up and running.

Our drive home took us up the 101 from Santa Monica to Santa Barbara and then all the way up the coast to Paso Robles, where we then headed east through wine country (the exact location of the movie “Sideways”) to pick up the 5. It’s a beautiful drive and nice change from the drive up the 99 or 5 from Los Angeles to Sacramento. The last time we made this trip was about 18 months ago in December 2011. Lauren had flown down from Portland to Orange County and we spent a couple of days celebrating the holidays with the rest of the family. After our goodbyes on our final evening we drove from West Hollywood and spent the evening in Ventura with plans to stop in Santa Barbara to visit our friend Sally Simms the next morning. We awoke to the sounds of waves and realized our hotel was just a stone’s throw from the beach (we’d arrived very late the previous night, tired from our hectic two days and ready to crash). It was magical! We laughed, took pictures on the boardwalk, and all agreed that we loved Ventura (for some reason, Lauren and I thought it funny to pronounce it Ven-tour-a, strong emphasis on the “tour”). We still say it that way and laugh at the sound of it.

After a short visit with Sally we were off again. I think I’ve mentioned that Verne and Lauren think alike as travelers (that means Double-Trouble for me) and often add about 25% travel time to a road trip with their must-sees and short-cuts (make that long-cuts). This trip was no exception. We first had to stop at Pea Soup Anderson’s in Buellton. Verne and I both had favorable memories of Pea Soup Anderson’s from our previous lives (that is, our previous marriages). One of three things has occurred since then…(1) we have glorified memories of the place and food; (2) our culinary skills have advanced to a point we are now much better food critics than we were thirty years ago; (3) Anderson’s quality has declined. I tend to think the problem is ours as Anderson’s recipe and method of making split-pea soup is unchanged from the 70’s and 80’s when both Verne and I (separately, of course) enjoyed a bowl of pea soup whenever vacationing along the mid-coast. Although the soup was mediocre, we did have fun with a photo shoot…

 Back on the 101, we managed another 60 miles before Double-Trouble insisted on another stop…this time at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. Verne and Lauren are of one mind when it comes to traveling and as usual, when it comes to these side attractions, they were both for stopping while I wanted to push on and try to make the 7-1/2 hour drive in something less than 10 hours. So, along with my smug traveling companions, we toured the Inn. It’s known for it’s colorful and elaborately decorated, themed rooms (a more descriptive word might be “gaudy”). We must have spent at least an hour walking and gawking at the lavish décor and browsing the gift shop. At some point, (still pouting) I casually mentioned I’d once stayed at the Madonna Inn, but in spite of their interest I teased them with only a few details (actually, I’ve forgotten all but a few details). Finally, we were back in the car and headed towards the 5 freeway. This last leg of the trip from 101 across to the 5 takes us on Highways 46 and 41 and past the intersection at Cholame where James Dean met his demise in a traggic car wreck. Verne is always for stopping at the little restaurant at the site and looking at all of the memorabilia and the marker that has been collected and, of course, Lauren aids and abets his whims if it means stopping and sight seeing.

So the 100 miles to the next point of interest, Harris Ranch in Coalinga, was now lengthened with the Cholame stop. I really don’t know the appeal of Harris Ranch, except that Lauren and I’d never been and we needed to use the bathrooms. It’s an incredibly popular stop off the 5 and a favorite of my friends Sandy and Sally. So, we stopped. Gift shops always have a strong pull (it’s a girl thing) and we stretched our legs with a walk-through. Lauren found a cute and very fitting postcard of a cow to send to her best friend from law school. There was one clerk waiting on one customer…after five minutes of waiting with our turn not in sight, we turned and left (postcard in hand) and laughed all the way to the car (apparently, that’s what shoplifting will do to you). Once we left the store we picked up our pace to a run arriving at the car out of breath and yelling at our driver (and now accomplice) to get us the heck out of there. We haven’t been back…I’m afraid I’ll see two familiar faces on a wanted poster.

Our most recent trip was made in something closer to the estimated 7-1/2 hour drive. But then, when there are only two voting…I ALWAYS win! Just before we left for this trip, Jeff called to say he and his family would be in So Cal the first of August for two weeks. It looks like we’ll have until then to catch our breath and then it’s On the Road Again!

On the Road Again - Part I

A couple of weeks ago Verne read in the Sac Bee about a two-day Berry Festival to be held in downtown Portland mid-July with over forty vendors from all over the state and all types of berries from the most common, strawberries, to less common farmed berries, such as, black raspberries, loganberries, olallieberries, tayberries, and others. That was the start of our most recent adventure (a 1,300+ mile trip to buy berries for jam)...

We set out from Volcano Thursday morning about 7:30 a.m. and arrived in Lake Oswego (10 miles south of Portland) at that same time in the p.m. We again turned a 10-1/2 hour drive into 12 hours...in addition to several Starbucks stops (did you know SB charges only 50 cents for a coffee or iced tea refill?), we spent about a half-hour olive oil tasting at the Olive Pit and Lucero in Corning (our first and last tasting at Lucero...we much prefer the Olive Pit's tasting bar and wide array of food and food-related items); enjoyed a picnic lunch at a beautiful rest stop on Lake Shasta;  checked out the specials at Harry and David's flagship store in Medford (we once stopped when they were selling month-end premium fruit for $5/crate...we're hooked and always hoping we'll hit it lucky again). Here's a pic of Verne tasting at the Olive Pit...

Oops! Let me back up a bit. We did make one other stop in Corning. Two years ago this month on our return from Portland we discovered the R&K Orchard about two miles west of the Olive Pit. As we exited the freeway we saw a small, hand-written sign that simply said "Peaches" with an arrow pointing to the right. About a mile from the exit and down a narrow driveway through the orchard, we came to a large metal building, doors rolled up leaving one side open. There were tables of crated peaches picked that morning and an old man and his grandson tending the business. It was a memorable 45 minutes and we left with some of the best peaches we’d ever eaten. We’ve learned from our recent visit that they’re called Gene Elberta’s.

Offloading peaches just picked. You can't get fresher than this...

The main event of our weekend, the Berry Festival, was scheduled to begin early afternoon on Friday. We spent the morning at Bob’s Red Mill Factory Store about 20 minutes from downtown Portland. It’s something we’ve wanted to do since discovering Bob’s is based in that area. We’ve used several of his products and love them (masa harina, corn meal, polenta, and the list goes on). The Factory Store is incredible…an adventure in itself…with over 300 of Bob’s products, including all types of grains, pastas, and spices, sold in small family-sized packages up to 50 lb. bags for bakeries and restaurants. 

The factory tour, which is offered at 10:00 a.m. every week day, is now a must and been added to our Bucket List! 

On to the Berry Festival…it was about what we expected with over forty vendors offering samples and selling everything “berry”…all varieties of fresh berries, freeze-dried and flash-frozen berries, vinegars, sauces, juices, chocolates, and even infused vodka and liqueurs. If you don’t eat your berries, then at least drink them! What did we buy? Over thirty baskets of all types of berries (after all, we did make an exhausting drive to attend the event!), a quart of mixed berry pie filling, and marionberry barbeque sauce. I’m still not sure why we bought those last two items. Guess we were just caught up in the moment.

Scott drove down from Seattle early Saturday morning. Friday had been so much fun that we decided to do it all again. With Scott in tow, we made a second trip to Bob’s for more shopping and breakfast at his deli located within the factory store...

and then back to the Berry Festival for a quick walk-through, a few samples, and a flat of strawberries. 

Then we were off to the Saturday Market. Throughout the year, Portland holds a huge art-craft-food fair downtown Saturday morning. It’s like other flea markets and has its share of tie-died apparel, leather-beaded bracelets/anklets, and pottery - all very common and reminiscent of the 60’s. But, it also has a handful of exceptional artists creating original work. Eventually, I plan to own something from each and, thanks to Lauren for my belated Mother’s Day gift, I’m already on my way. One artist I admire creates brightly colored, whimsical animal masks from clay: dogs, cats, chickens, and any other critter you might favor. For me, it’s chickens. Here’s a pic of her chicken caricature…

Before we left the Market, we introduced Scott to an Elephant Ear. Visualize the size and shape of an elephant’s ear and then imagine the taste of a churro, but with far more sugar and cinnamon due to the shear size of the pastry. Hot out of the oil it’s too hot to hold, let alone eat; but it’s too delicious to wait. We were still full from breakfast so we shared an Elephant Ear. Actually, there was no sharing; it was a feeding frenzy!

Back home around noon, Verne and I began making jam while Scott and Lauren entertained themselves in front of the TV. Two recipes, about eight different types of berries, and five hours later we’d made over thirty jars of jam. As with other jams I’ve made this summer, the berry is low sugar…on the cusp of tart. Just the way I like it. Low sugar jams are more flavorful and because they’re lower in calories, you can eat more! Eating more is important as I’m up to almost 100 jars of jam. Yikes!

That’s it for our berry, berry good trip to Portland. On our return we once again stopped at the R&K Orchards and this time bought a lug of peaches. Tuesday will be another jammin’ day…this time spicy ginger peach! Nummy!

Picnic in Napa

We got up early yesterday and headed for Napa to meet Vera and her boyfriend, Sean, for a wine tour/tasting at Chappellet and picnic lunch in their beautiful meadow overlooking a small vineyard and Lake Hennessey. I'm including this picture Vera took (and may have tweaked a wee bit with a photo app on her phone) just to set the mood...

We fortunately had scheduled our tour for 11 a.m., because the high was expected to reach almost 100 degrees. Our first half hour was spent in the cellar, where the temp is maintained at approximately 65 degrees. We then braved a walk through the vineyards moving from one shady spot to the next and anxious to get back to the cellar with it's refreshing climate-controlled environment.

Our last half hour was spent eating breadsticks and enjoying a taste of their best Cab, Prichard Hill, which according to our guide consistently receives marks of 95+ and is considered one of the best Cabs in the Napa Valley. I believe it. It's incredible!

After half a dozen tastings (double on some) we were feeling no pain and drove to the picnic area on the property. I'm not sure what we expected, but whatever those visions might have been were far surpassed by the beautiful, grassy meadow, hillside vineyard, and expansive view of the lake that greeted us. There was one other group of about twenty people just finishing their picnic. The group's hostess and daughter of the senior Chappellet's welcomed us and offered an invitation to "Movie in the Meadow," where they show pre-released Indie movies on a large inflatable screen while about 100 lucky visitors picnic on blankets and enjoy their meals and, I'm sure, Chappellet wine. Sounds like fun! We'd brought two bottles of wine from home to have with our lunch. Fortunately, one of them (and the one we'd opened and were drinking and was in plain view to our Chappellet guest) was a Chappellet Napa Valley Cab. The other was an "economy" wine (cheap) from Livermore. A step above Firefly Ridge at $5.50/bottle (very cheap), but probably not by much.

We had a great time. What can be better than Good Eats (cheese from Bravo Farms with hand-made crackers from Schatt's Bakery, tasty sandwiches on caibatta rolls, Verne's version of Andre's potato salad, and a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie (complements of the Chappellet's...they were leftover from the other picnic party); a bottle of fine wine; and convo* with our faux** family. Our DD (designated driver) got behind the wheel and drove us back to Frog's Leap, where we'd left Sean's truck. I might mention, Verne was our DD...we decided his driving after several glasses of wine was no worse than normal and none of the rest of us were up to it.

* Convo is a new word I've come across recently and I love it. I'm using it every chance I get, whether or not appropriate. Am I out of touch or what? Another new word (to me) is Solopreneur. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I'm working on it.

** I have Vera to thank for the term "faux" family. She recently introduced me as her faux aunt. I've always referred to her as one of my adopted children (Ted being the other), but I think I like this better. Thanks, Vera...