Duck Season!

I am not a hunter. Well, not an animal hunter. But I do love a nice walk in the woods. Sadly, this time of year, just as the ticks are disappearing, the hunters take over the woods in large numbers. I don't begrudge them their opportunity to display their place on the food chain. I just wish it wouldn't mean it wasn't safe for non-hunters to stroll amongst the bracken.

Last week I was thrilled to be able to serve the coral mushrooms. I had never had them before and only twice had eaten wild harvested mushrooms of any kind. Those others were chanterelles and morels. For a girl who has lived in many places but never one where we foraged from the woods, this was thrilling. I can't wait to see what else we might find via foraging.  I was even able to add some sumac seeds for seasoning. I have driven by tons of sumac for years with the intention of stopping to grab a cluster or two and try it out. Sumac is a spice that is used in many middle-eastern recipes. It has a somewhat citrus-y edge to it. I just let the seeds dry out on the shelf above my stove, separated the seeds from the stems and crushed them with a mortal and pestle. I used them in the mushrooms we topped the tilapia with last week. BTW—I have heard that there are no poisonous sumacs in Missouri. They have a totally different shape to the flower head than the ones we see here, roadside.

Two weeks ago I told you I had bought a case of duck. That amounts to 6 whole Peking ducks. Fortunately they came minus heads and feet. I'll never forget walking the streets of Toronto and San Francisco and seeing the smoked Peking ducks hanging in the shop windows—with heads and feet. Over the weekend I butchered the ducks, separating out the wings; legs and thighs; breasts, backs and necks; and giblets.  I took any skin that was unconnected to other parts and rendered it down. That means I cooked it in a pan until the fat melted away from the skin. This left cracklings—crispy skins, that I lightly salted and quickly devoured after sharing a bit with Rick. The rendered duck fat is considered one of the delicacies of the food world. While extremely tasty, it is considered a healthy fat. It is used to cook duck confit—pronounced cohn fee'. Duck confit is a dish where duck is cooked at a very low temperature (180 F degrees) in its own fat for several hours. The meat is slowly brought up to a cooked temperature and the resulting cooked meat simply melts in your mouth. We'll use it to make duck tacos at lunch on Wednesday. Served with shredded red cabbage, chipotle cherry salsa and crumbled goat cheese.

The breasts are cooked entirely differently. It is unusual in that it has a red meat—like beef. They, too, have a fat-laden skin that crisps up nicely in the pan. Unlike other parts of the duck, the breast is quite tender and is usually only cooked to a medium rare. It'll be accompanied by L'orange sauce, whipped sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli. We only have 12 breasts to go the whole week. I'll begin serving them on Tuesday evening and they are only available by reservation, dinner only. If you want me to save you a portion, you'll need to call in and have me put your name on it. They will go for $18 each.

I usually only serve one seafood entrée during the week as a special for dinner, but I am changing it up a bit this week. Tuesday and Wednesday I'll serve a crawfish gumbo over rice. I'll use a traditional gumbo recipe that begins with a slow roux—flour and oil cooked together and stirred over a low flame until it gets to a caramel color. This can take half an hour in itself. We'll add in some sausage, okra, garlic and the Cajun holy trinity—onions, celery and bell peppers. It'll be kicky without being overwhelmingly spicy. If you like creole or cajun you'll be in gumbo heaven. Served with a side salad and fried okra. $10.99

Thursday and Friday nights I have fresh Prince Edward Island mussels. I love steaming them in a garlic-infused wine broth and serving them in a bowl with rice and their own juices. I have 10 pounds coming in. Again—calling in a reservation to save you a portion would be brilliant. As with most meals we serve at dinner, you'll get a soup or salad plus a side of stir-fried late season veggies. $17

If you were looking for the sashimi tuna this week, I put it off until next week, probably. Several people had asked me not to have both the duck and the tuna the same week. I listened.

Music this week—Vinnie Ray  and Thom Hoglen will be playing jazz violin and guitar this week. They are a really nicely tight group that play superb jazz. You may have heard them a couple of weeks ago. The music is loud enough to get your attention but not overwhelming. If you wish to have private conversations during the music, ask to sit in Annex. The main dining room is by reservation. If you miss them this week, catch them next week, as well.

Now onto that lunch menu—

Tuesday~ keeping it simple. The new Equinox salad will be featured and the price chopped 50 cents. This new salad will be around until late December. I begin with a bed of spinach and arugula. Then I add in feta, apple, pear, pomegranate, red onion, almonds, wood-fired chicken and bacon. The dressing is a hot bacon dressing. Usually $6.99; Tuesday $6.49

Wednesday~ Duck confit tacos. You'll get 2 wrapped in either mandarin pancakes or flour tortillas. We'll add a touch of  chipotle cherry salsa/sauce, shredded red cabbage and crumbled goat cheese. Served with choice of side. $8.00

Thursday~ Coral mushroom and poached chicken crepes. I love the very delicate flavor of the coral mushrooms. I don't wish to overwhelm the flavor of the mushrooms with a smoked chicken, so I am going with poached to keep it mild. We'll use fresh thyme, tarragon and parsley and oregano from the garden. As mushrooms have a slightly woody undertone in their flavor, I am composing the herbs to solidify that base then adding a touch of dill as a topnote. This is done much the same way as perfumes are made. You may not have noticed but layering of flavors is one of the skills of a good cook. It is the nuances of flavor and scent that tantalize the palate. I'll serve this with a side of fresh butternut squash sauteed with garlic and sage. $7.50

Friday~ Seafood chowder. I have some lovely red snapper, mixed shellfish, and clams that we can combine to make a hearty stew. We'll serve this with a crusty bread and side salad. $8.00

Soups this week~

I'll start out with a classic chicken noodle we make from scratch. Lots of garlic, cooked down onions, celery, egg noodles. Yum. Simple. It'll help to clear your head from the allergies rampant right now. Later in the week we'll switch to a roasted root veggie soup—made with sweet potatoes, parsnips, turnips, onions, garlic, winter squash, rutabaga, beets. Man, I am loving this cooler weather!

That's it for now. I hope you have a lovely week and that we get to see you more than once.

~~Susan

Seasonal shuffle

As we pass into the phase of the year that provides the hope of autumnal weather, we are making shifts in manpower as our staff return to school. Ashley returns to nursing school for her last year; Stephan and Corey return to their last year of high school. We'll be able to retain the boys on a more part-time basis, but will miss their happy banter. Ashley will continue to wait tables on Tuesdays and Fridays. At lunch Paula joins us in the pit. This little bundle of energy is a joy to work with and seems to understand our "if it isn't fun, fix it" concept of work. While much may be happening while preparing your meals, seriousness is not a part of it. Paula will be helping to get out beverages and taking food out to tables. We continue to tweak our delivery for speed and quality. We're beginning to get this learning curve thing down to a manageable level.

You may have noticed that our volume seems to be picking up. We couldn't be more delighted. Fortunately it has, thus far, happened at a speed we can adjust to. We're working with four folks in the "pit." Jon takes your order and gets things rolling. Paula gets your beverages going. Rick handles anything that needs grilling or cooking. I handle the salad end of things. Between us we are getting pretty fast. We are extremely aware that your time at lunch is limited and know that no matter how good the food is, if you don't have time to eat it, we're missing the boat.

We're making a strategy change regarding desserts at lunch. The wonderful grilled desserts take staff focus and sadly, interupt the rhythmn of delivery. Therefore, we'll be offering desserts that allow for instant delivery at lunch. These might include pies, cakes, or even tarts. But it'll be a dessert that can be plated with very little extra effort. We'll still make and serve the more spectacular grilled desserts but only at night. In fact, on Friday evenings we'll probably eventually dedicate a single staff member to preparing these gems. But don't go thinking that the lunch desserts will be a of lesser level. For example, on the lunch menu of desserts this week is a fresh fig tart. It is made with a pastry tart crust, pastry cream (thick egg custard) and simmered fresh Brown Turkey figs, topped with a brandy infused whipped cream and crumbled pistacios. Oh my!

Another dessert I am looking forward to presenting is a Double Chocolate Tart with Candied Hazelnuts and Black Pepper Ice Cream. You've been clamouring for chocolate—well, here you go. That is the item in the image above.  I've also got a Ricotta cheesecake we'll offer later in the week. All of these SHOULD be available at lunch. We'll hold back the grilled pound cake and fruits until dinner time. As you may have noted, we are making most of our own ice creams these days. This allows for more interesting combinations, fewer undesirable ingredients (like high fructose corn syrup), and the ability to be right on top of what is in season. How much fun is that? We've been doing so many desserts with egg yolks lately that we need a rash of egg white-laden desserts just to catch up. I am thinking meringues in the form of New Zealand's pavlovas, topped with fresh late season fruits and whipped cream. Probably next week. Can we skip lunch and go straight for the dessert?

Before I go into detail about this week's lunch and dinner specials, let me remind you of this week's Friday night entertainment. Vinny Ray will return with his 5 string electric violin along with Harry Styron on guitar. Vinny dazzled us last time playing wonderful jazz violin. A seasoned professional, Vinny is a past state fiddle champion. You can't help but move your body a bit while listening. As always, please tip them well. We want this caliber of musicians back and your tips are what help make that happen. Music will start about 6:30 pm. As always, there is no cover charge but we ask that you buy a meal or at least dessert.

So let's talk about the actual meals planned. We are trying out a new Trout Burger this week. It is made with rainbow trout and formed into a 5 oz. patty. We get it frozen from our purveyor and prepare it by grilling. It'll be paired with ciabatta, sea sauce, tomato and choice of sprouts or lettuce and served with a choice of sides. We have 20 servings and will serve all week, until gone. If you like it enough, we'll put it on the menu. $7.50

Tuesday lunch will take advantage of the large stash of fresh veggies we have right now. We'll do a grilled veggie sandwich on grilled French bread. It'll have grilled eggplant, zucchini, onion, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, and snow peas. All will have been marinated in an olive oil herbal blend beforehand. The bread will have a lemon, dill mayonnaise sauce. We are not yet open for "meatless Monday" but you can start your Tuesday off meatless.  $6.99

Wednesday, Rick will make a turkey and veggie lasagna. It'll have all the flavors you expect plus be a bit healthier. In addition to the ground turkey, you'll find zucchini, onions, ricotta, mozzarella and an inhouse marinara sauce. You may have it with a side salad or another side option. $6.99

Thursday we'll bring back the crowd and staff favorite—chicken mole tacos. We make the chile sauce from scratch using dried chilis, then blend in pepitas, chocolate and the rest of the fresh ingredients. This is very time consuming and as authentic as it comes. IF I can manage to get it right, we'll make our own corn tortillas. There is a bit of a learning curve there. We'll serve it all with a lime cilantro slaw and Spanish rice. $7.50

Friday I'll be making pesto pizzas. We'll take our local organic basil and create pesto. Then we'll smear it on our in-house pizzas blanks, top it with FRESH mozzarella, carmelized onions, Juliet tomatoes, and shitake mushrooms. I'll serve it with a side salad for $7.50. Add wood-fired chicken for 50 cents.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And now for the dinner specials~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Flavor journey this week has its origins in the US south—Glazed pork shoulder. We'll take pork shoulder and bake it at a low temperature until it is nearly melting. Then we'll glaze it, serve it with a mustard green base, lima bean salad and baked fan potatoes. You'll also get a side salad to start. This may not immediately be on your flavor radar, but I invite you to stretch your palate and give it a taste. $10.99

I've been having some fun playing with the fresh pastas. Mixed seafood medley on fresh pasta with stir-fried veggies in a light cream sauce.This week I'll make a fresh egg pasta and top it with lots of currently in-season vegetables plus a medley of mixed seafood. The veggies will include tomatoes, green onions, zucchini, shitakes, snow peas and mung sprouts plus basil, white wine, cream and parmesan. The technique is most similar to the shrimp pasta, but with more variety of shellfish. The seafood will include shrimp, scallops, octopus, squid and clams. $15.99/ double seafood add $6.

Each week we meet more and more friendly local folk. I am humbled by how we have continued to grow. As we reach each new milestone, we are seeking ways to improve the quality of our service as well as the quality of our food. We are fortunate to have built an environment where we do get genuine timely feedback. We listen closely to your suggestions. They are not always right for us or our situation, but we do look at, not only the suggestions, but perhaps what might have prompted the suggestion. As we have grown we have gained some confidence in our ability to keep going. It feels really good. You have been there cheering us on and making sure we covered the basics all along the way. You are what makes what we do worthwhile. We love to see your smiling face! Thank you for being here and for sharing us with those you care about. We promise to treat them well.

~~Susan