Portland Culinary Alliance

Even an overcast August evening and a light drizzle didn’t turn a small group of members away from last Sunday’s PCA Potluck. Our gracious hosts, Marcia Hamann and her husband Tom, opened their quaint country home for an evening of great food and conversation in their peaceful backyard (a stately tree and lovely porch provided plentiful coverage from the elements). A long picnic table held the highlights of the plentiful - and diverse - dishes and wine offerings everyone brought. For starters, there was a fantastic watermelon, feta, and fresh green salad and a twist on traditional guacamole that married grapes, pomegranate seeds, and peaches with bright avocado. Later, the wonderful main courses arrived, including delectable lamb from Sudan Farm and a stunning onion and fig tart inspired by a Barefoot Contessa salad recipe.

Desserts and conversation - the later often centered around Marcia’s friendly llama herd and her colorful gardens - were also in plentiful supply. When it came time for dessert, many opted to sample a bit of every dessert in our spread from rich chocolate, caramel, shortbread squares to tiny key lime squares.

As the night wound down to a close, we all commented how nice it was to introduce and re-introduce ourselves to members - old and new - in the comfort of beautiful scenery and inspired food.

Mark Bitterman, self-styled Selmelier, and his wife, Jennifer Turner, have become stars of the small screen. Computer screen, that is. Bitterman and Turner, who own The Meadow on Mississippi Avenue, are featured in a business video at CNN Money.

Check out this video, “Marketing on a Shoestring,” which shows a happy group of customers sampling ice cream garnished with some of the 50 or so gourmet finishing salts that Bitterman and Turner sell at their charming shop. In the video they talk about how they have built up a clientèle for their wondrous array of salt.

Following their appearance on the CNN Money web site, they were invited to appear on KATU-TV’s “AM-NW.” Here’s a clip from their August 2 television interview.

The couple hosted PCA members in April for a “Salt ‘N’ Pepper” program at which we sampled about half a dozen salts from around the world.

Congratulations to Mark and Jennifer for their well deserved fame.

Ashley Griffin will join PCA as our new executive director in August. Ashley looks forward to meeting everyone already involved with the PCA, and hopes to welcome many new faces to the group as well. In her outside time, Ashley works as a freelance food writer who enjoys telling others she eats for a living.

“The James Beard Foundation’s Taste America™” event, scheduled for September 28-29, is a national food festival celebrating the world-renowned culinary organization’s 20th anniversary and the legacy of James Beard. Proceeds from the weekend’s local events will benefit the James Beard Foundation and the proposed permanent Public Market at Union Station, to be dedicated in his honor. The James Beard Foundation’s Taste America™ festival will feature several events and culinary experiences headlined by several of Oregon’s James Beard Award-winning and nominated chefs.
The Portland events include:

Public Market Party at Union Station
Friday, September 28, 5:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Starts at the roof-top deck of Station Place Smart Park (720 NW Marshall) and then moves to Union Station at 7:30 (800 NW 6th Ave)
$50 per person in advance, $60 at the door
• Small bites prepared by Oregon’s top chefs inside and outside Union Station
• Beer, wine and spirits from the state’s preeminent producers
• Live music

The Foods of Oregon Educational Symposium
Saturday, September 29, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The Food Innovation Center, 1207 NW Naito Parkway
$50 per person, by reservation only (attendance is limited)
• Series of roundtable discussions led by the state’s leading agricultural producers, artisans, farmers and purveyors at the Food Innovation Center adjacent to Union Station

Robert Hammond, chef and cooking school owner (Honeyman Creek Farm), is featured in a press release from Oregon State University Extension Services. Robert, who serves on PCA’s board of directors, is an OSU Master Gardener. Read on to learn his tips about growing and cooking Asian greens.

Plant Asian Greens in Mid- to Late Summer, Says OSU Master Gardener and Chef

Read the rest of this entry »

At our June 25 program at Simpatica Dining Hall, Viande co-owner Ben Dyer introduced us to a pink curing salt used in curing pork belly to make the items Ben demonstrated: Tuscan-style pancetta, savory rolled pancetta and bacon.

Barbara Dawson, PCA secretary and an owner of In Good Taste, 231 N.W. 11 Ave., reports that her store now carries the salt for $4.25 a jar. PCA members get a 10 percent discount.

Barbara says visitors to the store’s web site can now shop online or visit the new blog. Check it out at http://ingoodtasteblog.blogspot.com

A small but enthusiastic group of members and guests celebrated Bastille Day in a tasty way by joining Chef Robert Reynolds July 14 to shop for ingredients at Portland Farmers Market and later to prepare a blue, white and red (bleu, blanc et rouge, like France’s tricolor flag) brunch in honor of the French holiday.

Walking amidst the pyramids of colorful produce was a sensory delight to begin with; on top of that we heard Robert’s spontaneous thoughts on ways to prepare kohlrabi, zucchini, tomatoes, beets, gooseberries and other items displayed. All the while, we were gathering berries, bread and veggies for our brunch.

Back at Robert’s studio kitchen we all pitched in to prepare cauliflower soup and tomato soup, risotto with Rogue Creamery’s Oregon Blue cheese (in honor of their award from the French for the best blue cheese) and a sponge cake for jelly roll served with lemon mousse and berries. We were all madly taking notes on our printed recipes, trying to capture Robert’s nuggets of culinary wisdom.

We toasted our efforts with a glass of rose wine and sat down to enjoy our delicious food. It was a delightful way to spend a summer Saturday morning. Robert’s warm introduction to his world of savored food memories and accumulated wisdom and technique kindled interest in his cooking classes. For more information, click on http://www.thechefstudio.com.

As a 20th anniversary present to ourselves at Portland Culinary Alliance, we have a new web site, complete with a blog. Here we can post timely notices and news, program announcements, photos from events and other culinary tidbits for members’ enlightenment and entertainment. Visitors to the site can click on buttons above to learn about our organization and how to join. Members will enjoy the convenience of emailing each other or checking out each other’s web sites directly from our password-protected members’ directory.

Future improvements are to come. So keep checking in at pdxca.org to see what’s new.