Springtime ? On Orcas Island

Springtime on Orcas Island

Balmy 78 degrees this morning, Not!  

April Fools.

Classic spring weather for Orcas Island.  Cool and rainy with the overnight snow on Mount Constitution.  All the while the daffodils and cherry trees are blooming with some plums starting as well.  Hoping for some warmth, we need the bees to fly for decent pollination.

Fish Station Prep

Contemplating the large array of different products that we prep, grow & keep in each station at the Inn this morning.  

Last night for the fish station alone the list includes; 

shaved fennel, blood orange, frisee, herbs(parsley, chive, bronze fennel, tarragon), leeks, roasted onion, lemon aioli, ramps (wild leeks), mushrooms; oyster, mountain hedgehog & yellow foot chanterelles, citrus dressing, sherry dressing, red wine dressing, poached garlic butter, saffron butter, caramelized shallot butter, reggiano, carnaroli rice, fresh pasta sheets, chevre, lemon juice, leek puree, mustard greens puree, french sorrel, Jerusalem artichoke, sweet potato, shaved  cabbage, purple & green frilly mustard greens, Parmesan broth, saffron broth, mushroom broth, rice water, smoked salmon, rendered bacon, asparagus, extra virgin olive oil, fennel fronds and mizuna flowers to garnish.  Mussels, manilla clams, halibut, weather vane scallops, prawns & octopus.

Many items with varying degrees of production difficulty, all to come together to produce the eight or so dishes that come from the fish station.  Pretty much all in a days work, always striving to maintain freshness, keep work spaces clean and be organized.

Spring on Orcas Island

Big Sky

Spring is trying hard to show itself.  The weather has been extremely variable, windy, rainy, snowy, sunny, hail, rain again.  All the fruit tree pruning is finally done, the buds were really beginning to start pushing, but then the temperatures dropped.  We are hoping for some days at least in the 50's, bees for pollination would be nice.  I do not think that is asking too much.

In the greenhouse everything is on track, tomatoes are planted inside and now are starting to sprout.

We reopened the restaurant this week and we have been pleasantly surprised with the local turnout.

Some very tasty Buck Bay and Judd Cove oysters on the menu, we are lucky to have some of the finest shellfish in the world right here on Orcas island.

Steele Wine Dinner March 22

Please come join us for an up-coming special Wine Dinner with the legendary Jed Steele.
It has been several years since we have had the pleasure of seeing Jed at the Inn.
Few in the industry can blend a dedication to quality wine production with personalized consumer attention and merchant appreciation, like Jed Steele.

 

Our dinner will be featuring wines from Jed's Shooting Star label and Steele Wines. 
Chef 'G' is pairing these wines with a seasonal Ship Bay tasting menu.
The wine line up looks like: Shooting Star Aligote, Steele Durell Chardonnay, Steele Carneros Pinot Noir,
Stymie Syrah and, finally with Dessert, Black Bubbles Sparkling Syrah.
(We have been happily sampling these wines while developing the menu!)

Only a dozen spots are still available as of March 2.

So give a call and reserve your place before they are all gone!

(We are offering special accommodation rates for those whose wish to stay the night too....)

shipbay@rockisland.com

360.376.5886

M.A.'s favorite cup choice; she has one for home & one at the Inn too.

Orcas Island January Ravioli

Ravioli

The best thing for me about not having the restaurant open is being able to cook and eat at home with my family.  We tend to make a lot of simple meals, this January night we made ravioli, one was filled with roast squash (adults) and the other with a mixture of parsley, mozzarella and reggiano (kids).  No trickery here.

There are many pasta recipes, using flours of many types,  oo flour, bread flour, a.p. flour etc...  I like to use straight semolina, I like the density that it gives and once you get used to it, it is quite easy to work with.  It absorbs  moisture more slowly than almost any other flour, so you need to compensate when initially mixing the dough.  For hand cut noodles, it dries and holds very well.

I take 2 cups (approximately) semolina, three fresh local eggs, a short glug of extra virgin olive oil and a touch of water to help make the right consistency, remember that the semolina will take 20 minutes or more to absorb all the liquid, so you want it to start out just a bit loose.  I find that when I cook the pasta in salted water and have seasoned the filling, salt is not needed in the dough (not sure what Mario or the Cool Guy says).  You can mix with a paddle in a Kitchen Aid or by hand.  Even if you use a mixer, turn it out on a wood table to work with your hands a bit, just to feel the dough with your hands.  Let it rest and relax before rolling.

I just use a hand roller, and work the Ravioli sheets to number five (for our machine, they do differ) , if it is too sticky, dust everything with some semolina.  Place the filling into a pastry bag with a large straight tip and carefully lay down the filling, I can go three wide if I am careful.  The next sheet goes over the top, make sure that the sides are stretched to fit the bottom sheet, a helper at this point can be advantageous.  Start at one end and work down the middle, taking care to remove all the air surrounding the filling, then do the same to the sides and crimp with a pastry cutter of fork.  You can make larger ravioli if you are having a hard time with three across (this is not a contest, the only hero is the one who cleans up).

You can fill pasta with anything, just make sure that it, a) tastes great, b) is sealed well and has some structure when hot, no explosions.  For tonight, a super easy saute of mushroom, caramelized onion, chicken stock with chopped parsley with reggiano landed on the ravioli when they finished cooking, which really only take several minutes when this fresh.

Mangalitsa - Berkshire Piglets

Three Little Pigs

Three of Link's piglets came over to Orcas from Horsedrawn Farm on Lopez Island yesterday.  Two barrows and one gilt.  They are almost two months old to the day.  Very frisky and quite cute.  Link seemed ready to move on from her litter, as they had all been weaned and were investigating the farm.  Catherine really likes to give the piglets 8 weeks with the sow, which can be hard on the sow, but Link really looked great.  Typically factory farms wean piglets at 3 weeks and start them on antibiotics, as they tend to get sick when pulled from their mother too quickly.  The other four piglets will remain on Lopez, with two different families who wanted to raise pigs with Mangalitsa genetics.

Because they are half Berkshire and half Mangalitsa, we may breed the gilt back to a pure Mangalitsa, which would yield 3/4 Mangalitsa, providing most of the characteristics of pure Mangalitsa with faster growth.  After a snack of Mangalitsa Coppa, Salami and Speck, we headed back to Orcas Island on the ferry.
Anyone who wants to drop by the Inn to see them is welcome.

Back on Orcas Island

          We have just returned from a trip to the east coast, where we witnessed weather from 5 below zero in Vermont to 55 F in New York City.  Coming home we were greeted with mild weather and rain.

Kale

            Basically unblemished Chidori Kale, Swiss Chard, Lacinato and Arugula in the garden.  Hard to believe it is January 4, 2012, the temperatures have been in the 40's F both day and night.  The winds have been strong and consistent, whipping everything, but very little frost damage.

Winter Lettuces

           In the greenhouse, everything is looking great as well, normally winter crops just sit through this period, until daylight time lengthens and it warms in February.  This year, the relative warmth has everything growing slowly.  I can't help but think that we will slip into a deep freeze very soon, but I will keep my fingers crossed in hopes that does not happen.  In the meantime, we will enjoy slug free fresh greens.

Mizuna

          Off to Lopez Island on Sunday to pick up three Mangalitsa cross piglets from Horsedrawn Farm.

Pictures to follow.

         

Our Beloved Link... and the Linkettes

The post that everyone has been waiting for.  Our sweet Link and her piglets, count them, seven, not bad for a Mangalitsa sow's first litter.  They are one month, almost to the day old.  Link looks great, very happy to see us again, and very attentive to the little ones.  The litter is three little girls and four boys.  We will bring three back to Ship Bay and Catherine will keep two gilts, because Link has been such a great mother.  Two of the other piglets will also stay on Lopez with another fan of the heirloom Mangalitsa genetics.

This is the beginning of the next generation.  

Thanks to Heath Putnam.