Spotlight on Massa's
In the Press
Q&A with the Chef
Featured Recipe
Contest

This is our first in a series of kitchen newsletters from the MacCallum House, Mendocino. It is largely in response to the many recipe requests we receive, and to share the topics sparked by memorable dining room discussions with guests at the end of an evening. To those of you on the newsletter list but not yet guests, this can be a virtual peek into the kitchen window in hopes you will already feel welcome the first time you arrive.

If you do visit this season, there is fresh local crab available in our featured recipe, Dungeness Crab Gnocchi Gratin, from our current spring menu. Gnocchi is a fun food to make and in the recipe we'll provide some tips for novices.

With spring upon us, winter vegetables and braising and stewing are replaced by farm-fresh greens. Organic farmer Jim Miller's butter lettuces and his early arugula, a California strain that is spicier, curlier and crunchier than summer arugula, enhance our salad that accompanies the hit of the season - the steak (hanger or filet) from Niman Ranch with a Cabernet reduction and a Point Reyes Farmstead blue cheese popover. I hope you enjoy our first recipe and tips and don't forget to enter the contest!

Our featured purveyor is Massa Organics, who have 90 years of family farming history in California. In a very American fashion, the current generation is taking the wisdom and progress of the past generations - starting with the hand-plowed land of 1916s first crop - through the agricultural revolution of the second half of the century. They are applying it to the both ancient - and new - idea of sustainable agro-ecosystems. The Massas are striving to farm in a way that leaves the water and environment cleaner and richer through their stewardship of the land.

This sense of responsibility and connectivity between the way crops are raised and the nourishment they impart is a major consideration in my only bringing organic, unprocessed ingredients into the kitchen. Besides fresh food from small artisanal farms and producers just tastes better. We are using Massa's rice in our vegetarian dish, Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Risotto. I am sure Massa is going to become a known name in organic rice and am glad to have them join our list of purveyors.

Plate Magazine, "Morning Glories" by Anne SpiselmanJanuary/February 2007, featured chef in "Elegant Eggs"

Savor, Wine Country; "Getting Cozy" by Meg McConahey, Winter 2006

Sunset Magazine, "Mendocino in December" by Amy Traverso, December, 2006

Where Magazine, "7 Spots to Explore: Mendocino: North Coast Splendor" Kendra Smith, October, 2006

We are happy to welcome home our new General Manager, Herman Seidell who is a Mendocino native but most recently part of the team of Alex Restaurant, one of only sixteen U.S. restaurants in 2007 to receive Mobil 5 stars and AAA 5 diamonds awards. We are excited to add his skills to our ability to give guests the finest in service.

— by foodprose

To conduct an interview with a busy full-time chef, I meet the chef outside a greenhouse in Fort Bragg where he’s picking up banana leaves to make tamales.

Not sure how long I will have his undivided attention today, I cut to the chase: What is the best part of being a chef? No hesitation as he answers with enthusiasm.

Creativity......there’s a great variety of tasks other than the actual cooking to be done and I like that - talking to farmers, influencing what they grow... always socializing, meeting interesting people among the customers, farmers, winegrowers, food writers...lasting friendships are built ..the writers, small farmers, and winegrowers are passionate about what they do and that’s a rather rare and wonderful thing.... I also love to forage, find new organic ingredients for my dishes, and to teach. Two of my employees have gone on to the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park, my alma mater.

What motivated you to go into cooking as a career? How did you become a chef?

My first job was in a kitchen where there were three CIA grads in charge and I learned from them....when I got done with my shift, they let me help prep and before long I was cooking on the line. I found I was good at it. I loved the adrenalin rush and the camaraderie. I took night classes in different cuisines. I knew I wanted a foundation in cooking like the chefs I had worked for, and so I applied to the CIA and started classes in October '78. I found the education fascinating and exciting. Because of my early cooking experience I knew what they were talking about and in my mind could apply what I was learning to the reality of a restaurant. I was like a fish to water.

What do people need to know about being a chef before they enter the field?

It's an enormous amount of work, time, effort...very rewarding if you are willing to give it your all ...all-consuming but you must know it is right for you because of the commitment required. Work for a summer in a restaurant and see how you feel about it. Be willing to take the lowest position in the kitchen to start.

Describe the food in the restaurant and your interest in organics.

Being in California, I was influenced by Alice Waters at Chez Panisse and Margaret Fox here in Mendocino. Cooking with organics is the right thing - good for the earth, good for people. But it isn't just philosophy, when soil hasn't been depleted…you can tell in the flavor of the fruits and vegetables. It costs considerably more for organic ingredients and for the high level of kitchen skills and time required to produce hand made products, like pastas, breads, and ice creams in order to put excellence on the table. Everything in my kitchen is made from scratch.

....back in the kitchen now, Alan is laying the banana leaves out on a stainless prep table: "Tamales are one of my favorite foods. When traveling in Costa Rica and southern Mexico, we often cooked with fresh banana leaves. We learned to soak the leaves first, the same as when using wooden skewers on a bbq, so as not to burn them when we put them on a grill wrapped around the day's catch." He prepares the masa, making it wetter than with usual cornhusk tamales. "I observed that tamales in banana leaves are so much tastier than in corn husks… the green leaf seems to seal in the moisture, giving the masa more of a custard rather than cakey texture. Once the tamales are prepared, he plates them with adobo salsa. "I use sweet dried Anaheim chilies from Tierra farms in Sebastapol, as well as their chipotle, which is smoked jalapeno." Tierra is a small organic farm that distributes to restaurants from here to Chez Panisse; if you are lucky you can catch them at the farmer's market in Healdsburg.

The tamales are piquant, rich, the masa creamy and full of flavor, as he described, and delicious. My last bite is a perfect time for my last question:

Does it make you happy to make other people happy? Does it satisfy something within you?

When people are impressed for the right reasons….I am happy when they understand the quality of creativity, technique, organics. When people get what we put into a dish and enjoy the food there is nothing better.

It is often hard to give a recipe on demand. In a restaurant it often takes days for every facet of one single recipe to come together as it takes 4 days just to make a stock. We will include a recipe here that we think the home cook might like to try (I promise it doesn't take 4 days!) and includes gnocchi whose preparation has frequently been an element of recipe requests.

Dungeness Crab Gnocchi Gratin with Cypress Grove Lambchopper Cheese, Ham and Sugar Snap Peas

Go to the Sustainability and Organics forum on our website, check out some of the articles there and let us know how buying organic works in your own life. Do you have a garden? Do you eat organic for health reasons? Do you find organic produce and meats simply tastes better? We'll vote on the best post and you get a chance to win a fabulous 2-day stay with dinner for two at MacCallum House.*

The deadline to post is May 31, 2007 so be sure to post soon. We will email the winner directly and announce the winner in the forum by June 15, 2007. It's easy-as-pie to post. From the main forums page click on Register and follow the directions. Once you have created a user account click on the main form 'Sustainability and Organics' and the 'New Thread' link to add your comments.

*Package valued at $969.

Taste the flavors of the season with our Chef Tasting Menu.

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maccallumhouse.com | 707.937.0289 | 800.609.0492 45020 Albion Street | PO Box 206 | Mendocino CA | 95460

Food Photos: J.Perlman Photography, Dining Room photo: John Birchard, Herman Seidell Photo: Rita Crane, Newsletter Editors: foodprose, Design: Eye Design Studio