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Wasatch Mountain Table Dinner Series

Solitude has re-envisioned what outdoor dining should be with the introduction of their Wasatch Mountain Table dinner series. Set just outside the St Bernard’s restaurant along the bank of the Big Cottonwood creek, it is the perfect spot for getting together with friends to enjoy each others’ company, as well as Chef Michael Richey’s creations. Chef Richey was formerly the chef at Pago and The Tree Room at Sundance Resort. I was lucky to be invited to take part in the dinner and share my thoughts on the experience.

Forty guests are seated at a long communal table, which provides ample opportunity to get to know new people and better get to know old friends. To my right sat an auto parts salesman who also happened to be a CIA graduate from New York. Across from me was one of Salt Lake’s leading interior designers. Needless to say, while our conversation bounced around from hospitals to car parts to motorcycles and cooking, there was never a lack of interesting topics.

Anyone familiar with Chef Michael Richey’s style knows that he focuses on sourcing as many of his ingredients as close to the kitchen as possible. Many of the ingredients from tonight’s dinner, such as honey vinegar, tomatoes, eggs, and apricots, are sourced along the Wasatch Front. For other ingredients where sourcing locally isn’t an option (i.e. wild King salmon), ingredients are sourced regionally. Tonight’s dinner featured products from M&M Farm (in Richey’s opinion the best produce in Salt Lake City), Slide Ridge Honey, Sandhill Farms, Clifford Farm, and Mystic Salmon. Kelli Bess, from Slide Ridge, took a moment to tell us the Slide Ridge story. They are family-owned, produce a variety of honeys, honey wine vinegar, mead, and are now producing honey wine (they are a federally licensed winery). It was fun to put a face and story to one of the products we were going to enjoy that evening.

Our evening began with some delicious appetizers. 

The first were the M&M Farm Yukon Gold potato pillows topped with American Sturgeon Caviar. For those of you who may be caviar novices (like me), let me calm your fears: If you’ve ever had tobiko at a sushi place, you pretty much know what you’re getting into with caviar. This was my second favorite dish of the evening.

The next dish was a bruschetta topped with romesco, grilled green onions, and black garlic. Rich, crunchy, and delicious.

Next up were the Utah pork rillettes with grilled bread. Think chicken or tuna salad, except taken to the next level with pork as the protein.

Our final appetizer was deviled Clifford Farms eggs topped with icicle radish, black truffles, and chives.

Now, on to the dinner.

Arugula salad with cherries, roasted yellow beets, and the most deliciously smooth house-made ricotta cheese that I’ve ever had. The salad was dressed with a Slide Ridge Honey vinaigrette. 

Maple Torta with braising greens, chevre, caramelized onions, and a balsamic reduction.

Wild King Salmon with snap peas, roasted eggplant, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, basil nage, and corn pone. This dish stole the show with an absolutely killer variety of flavors and textures. Everything about this dish was perfection, from the deeply roasted eggplant to the wonderfully herby nage to the amazingly deep and rich corn pone. And of course don’t forget the tastiest piece of salmon I’ve ever had. Somebody get cracking on legalizing marrying food, because I just found my soulmate. Definitely my favorite dish of the evening.

Stone fruit tart with apricot ice cream and bourbon caramel. Anybody who knows me knows I’m not much of a cooked fruit guy, especially in desserts. Something about the texture that gets me. But I put that aside and I’m glad I did because the tart was wonderful. The tart featured a nice crust and a delicious house-made apricot ice cream.

For those who missed out on this dinner, you’re in luck. Solitude is hosting three more of these dinners throughout the Summer, on July 28th, August 18th, and September 15th. Be sure to bring a jacket, as the temperature drops noticeably the second the sun disappears behind the mountains.

Click here to go over to Solitude’s site to get more info on the Wasatch Mountain Table.

Chef Michael Richey

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Early Bird Brunch

Have you ever heard of Chicken Week? I haven’t, either, but I’m assuming it has Mike Rowe narrating the gruesome details of chickens roaming the streets of Salt Lake City, picking on innocent City Creek shoppers.

Or, it could be Wasatch Community Gardens’ third annual week promoting local “eggriculture” in Salt Lake City.

To kick off Chicken Week, Wasatch Community Gardens is hosting a brunch at Squatters. For $15 you will enjoy a delicious breakfast burrito made with locally-sourced eggs as well as endless coffee and juice. Squatters is donating the location, staff, and food, so all proceeds will go directly to benefit Wasatch Community Gardens.

The brunch is this Saturday, June 30th. You can sign up for one of three seatings: 9:00, 9:45, or 10:30. After your brunch you can take yourself on a self-guided tour of some of SLC’s premier chicken coops.

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Caputo’s Butcher Shop

If I had to pick just one local shop that has done more to elevate Salt Lake City’s tastes regarding food and the culture that surrounds it, I’d have to pick Caputo’s. I remember watching Tony do his cooking spot on TV when I was younger, and then be in awe when I saw him energetically working behind the deli counter between shooting his TV spots in the back of their old shop right on the corner of 3rd W and Broadway. I remember walking through their shop, admiring the gorgeous, multi-colored bottles of imported water, olive oil, and vinegar. They cared (and still do) about their food and ingredients, and they remain one of my favorite haunts in Salt Lake City.

Caputo’s has evolved over the years. What was once a tiny deli and sandwich shop is now a shop that offers an olive oil and vinegar tasting bar, a gorgeous and huge selection of fine chocolates from around the world, a wonderful deli meat counter, a wide selection of some of the world’s best cheeses, salumi, pasta, sauces, jams, beverages, cheese cave, and educational classes to help us expand our palates and knowledge.

And now they’ve taken the next step in their evolution by opening Caputo’s Butcher Shop. The shop will only sell Heritage meats–animals that have been humanely raised and pasture-fed by ranchers that understand that there’s more to it than just making money. The shop will sell Christiansen Family Farms pork, Snowy Mountain lamb, and Pleasant Creek Ranch beef. Goat and chicken will be coming soon.

Frody Volgger, formerly of Vienna Bistro, is the in-house butcher. Frody closed down his vaunted Vienna Bistro a few years ago when he was battling cancer and he realized he needed to focus on his treatment. Now, in his recovery period, he found himself curing meats and giving them away to friends and family. He said that during the last holiday season he cured over 1,000 pounds of meat for friends and family. So it was a rather fortuitous meeting between Matt and Frody that ended up with them deciding to open a butcher shop at Caputo’s.

Frody is more than happy to do special cuts or take special orders for meat. So if you’re in the need of a special cut of meat, chances are he’ll be able to do it for you. And he’ll happily share recipe ideas as well.

In addition to butchering, Frody is also preparing a special line of their preservative-free, house-cured meats. Everything from ham, chorizo, and other sausages will be featured in the butcher case. We tried a wide variety of their offerings and they are indeed tasty.

The next time you’re in Caputo’s swing around the corner, walk past the balsamic vinegars and olive oil, and check out their butcher case. Say hi to Frody. Ask him to tell you about the meat. He’ll be glad you did.

You can find more photos on Flickr

Caputo's Market & Deli on Urbanspoon

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Creminelli Whiskey Salami

Bold. That is the first word that came to mind when I had the chance to try Creminelli’s new Whiskey Salami. The salami is made using Park City’s High West whiskey. High West has been cranking out award-winning spirits for the past few years, and Creminelli teamed up with them for this new salami, which features High West’s new Son of Bourye whiskey. While not an imbiber myself, I can tell you that with one whiff of this salami, I knew it was going to be a bold new offering from Cristiano Creminelli. And it didn’t disappoint.

The flavor is strong, with just a little bit of kick that lingers on the back of your palate and a hint of juniper. I wouldn’t call the whiskey in this salami overpowering. While it certainly makes its presence known at first whiff and first bite, it mellows out and is the perfect complement to the wonderfully rich, well-rounded, and flavorful salami we’ve come to love from Cristiano’s shop.

High West says that the Son of Bourye whiskey is “best enjoyed around a campfire while looking at the Milky Way.” I think this statement applies equally to the bold flavors of the Creminelli Whiskey salami. I could definitely see myself snacking on this in the middle of the desert, watching the stars. This salami isn’t for the faint of heart, and it certainly won’t let you forget about it for very long.

Creminelli is currently selling the Whiskey Salami as a limited item in their Wild West Salami Gift Set. The Whiskey salami is paired with another bold salami, their Wild Boar. Creminelli is currently promoting this as a perfect gift for Father’s Day, and I couldn’t agree with them more.

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Frisch Eatery On Kickstarter

Who says Kickstarter is just for techy-related stuff? Frisch Eatery is a vegan restaurant setting up shop in the old Cafe de Rico building on 800 S 500 E, and they are raising funds to upgrade plumbing and purchase cooking equipment so they can open shop.

If you haven’t heard of Kickstarter, I would encourage you to look into it. It’s a website whose aim is to help entrepreneurs raise funds for various projects from iPhone-compatible watches to, well, restaurants. People who donate funds are considered “backers” and typically receive some sort of benefit once the product is launched. If the project doesn’t raise the necessary money, it’s back to the drawing board.

If you’ve always wanted to support local businesses, now you have a new, unique way to do just that!

Check it out here.

Frisch Eatery on Urbanspoon

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Ricotta Dumplings, The Copper Onion

Since it was our six-year wedding anniversary today, I decided to make a dish that’s special to us. One of our favorite dishes in Salt Lake is the lemon ricotta dumplings from The Copper Onion. Just about every dish at The Copper Onion gets rave reviews, but I think this dish is the all-star, and I’ve never heard anyone say they didn’t absolutely love it.

As I said in an earlier post, one of the things I admire in Ryan Lowder is that he’s not afraid to share the recipes to his most popular dishes with the public. I can’t remember where I found this recipe (let me know if you know who initially posted it), but I’m going to repost it with a few modifications.

If you haven’t tasted these dumplings before, you need to. They are a masterwork of opposites. They are dense and moist, yet still airy and light. They have some complex, deep flavors that are counterbalanced perfectly with the addition of bright lemon citrus.

I cut the recipe in half to make it a bit more manageable for our family of two, but I’m going to post his full recipe. Our half recipe made around 12-15 dumplings so the full recipe should produce around 30 dumplings.

Ricotta Dumplings
2 lbs ricotta
4 egg yolks
3 eggs
½ lb cheap parmigiano reggiano
1 lb spinach
1 ½ cups flour
.3 tsp ground nutmeg
Salt
Pepper

Garnish
Preserved lemon (I just used lemon zest)
Fresh thyme

Blanch the spinach and squeeze as much water as possible out of it. You want it as dry as possible (I placed the spinach between two dinner plates and smashed, smashed, smashed). Finely chop the spinach. Combine all ingredients except the flour and mix well. Add the flour in small amounts and mix until just blended. Then form the dough into dumplings (I formed mine into quenelles using two large spoons. You can see how to do it by watching this Youtube video).

At this point you should have water simmering in a large pot. I made the mistake of putting my dumplings into a rolling boil and it tore them apart. So a simmer is plenty. Make sure you don’t keep them in the boiling water for much longer than 15-25 seconds because they’ll begin to disintegrate.  Once you see the dumplings start to surface to the top take them out and immediately place them in a very hot sauté pan with browned butter. Caramelize on all sides, then plate and top with the lemon zest and thyme. I like to serve them with a lemon wedge to punch up the lemon flavor even more.

Try this out and let me know what you think!