gas or electric?

The day has finally come to acquire my own kiln. No, the gas or electric question has nothing to do with my kitchen. That was an easy choice made years ago: out! with the electric coils and in! with the 6 burner, griddle and 2 oven Viking gas stove. No, it's time to set up a ceramics studio at home. With x-mas break looming - 8 long weeks until the Eagledale Art Center opens up again - panic has set in. I will no longer put up with pottery withdrawal syndrome. Off to craigslist it is then. Thankfully there are plenty potters who dabble in muck and mud for a while only to realize that you can't strike it rich being a potter and eventually give up. Today's CL has no fewer than 8! kilns waiting for new owners. That's not even counting the one (electric kiln) I'm going to look at tomorrow - guess they think they've sold it to me already. Maybe, maybe not. I looked at a gas kiln last week, but I'm sitting on the fence. Up till now I had fired all my pots in a cone 10 gas kiln, with great results. But a handbuilt piece - I call it the "are-you-coming-or-going?-goat", had me worried that it wouldn't survive the gas kiln. My incredibly resourceful instructor Sherri Grossbauer suggested I fire it in the electric kiln. I knew that I didn't like the way the glaze (Pinell Strontium Blue, aka Weathered Bronze) turned out in cone 5, so we tried cone 6. To great result! So here we go with my dilemma. To gas or to electric? The gas firing process seems daunting, but I love so many glazes that need the reduction you can only get in a gas kiln. On the other hand, this glaze is beautiful in either kiln AND my pieces will shrink less. I guess I will make up my mind tomorrow!

pasta di zucca

That's pasta with pumpkin in Italian. I reserve half of one vegetable bed to grow sugar pumpkins just to be able to eat this and - of course - pumpkin pie. I can't tell which of these two I love more - guess it depends on my mood; savory or sweet. After being engulfed by sugary fumes while canning jellies and applesauce all last week, I was definitely inclined towards savory. On top of that I had a little taste of it while assisting my friend and chef, Greg Atkinson, on a catering job. We catered a fundraiser for the annual "Wintergrass Festival" in Tacoma. Greg put together an Italian feast of hors d'oeuvres - starting with 3 types of crostini, one version topped with roast pumpkin, a fried sage leaf and grated parmesan. I'm glad I managed to sneak one in my mouth before the guests snatched them all of my handmade platters. That was just a little teaser, but probably a timely one. Nothing worse than to go out in the pumpkin patch and find the bottoms of the pumpkins eaten by slugs and hollowed out by mice. Now they're safe and dry on the kitchen counter, awaiting their fate. Spared too from falling prey to Floortje and Bunior, our dogs. Unlike their poor hapless fellow-sufferers: the apples. (We can't find a place to walk or sit down anywhere in the house without smooshing a half chewed apple.) 

Now to the recipe:

pasta di zucca:                                          

1 small sugar pumpkin

olive oil

coarse sea salt, pepper

2 oz pancetta, diced

freshly (!) grated parmigiano reggiano

1/2 stick of butter

handful of sage leaves

1 lb pasta (ie gemelli, fussili)

Cut the pumpkin in segments and remove the seeds. Peel and dice.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for the pasta. Heat a little olive oil in a large casserole over medium high heat. Add the pancetta. When brown on all sides remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the pumpkin to the same casserole, season with salt and pepper and brown on all sides, stirring every so often.

Add a little olive oil and the pasta to the boiling water; cook till al dente. Drain.

Fry the sage leaves in the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. The butter should be brown, but be careful not to burn it. Remove the sage leaves to drain on a paper towel. Season with salt. (And don't eat them all just yet!)

Mix the pumpkin, pancetta and pasta together on a platter. Sprinkle with sage leaves, drizzle with the brown butter and serve with freshly grated parmesan and a fresh salad.

Serves 4 people.

Note: In a more elaborate version I fill handmade ravioli's with the pumpkin, sage and parmigiano, drizzle with the browned butter and top off with more fried sage leaves. No pancetta necessary.

a little Provence blues

Sadly, last year around this time, Michael and I were eating our way through the Provence. No such luck this year and I'm feeling pretty nostalgic. Didn't help to open up my iphoto on a picture of the market in Aix-en-Provence. A sad reminder of what lunch could taste like. I do my best with homegrown tomatoes and trying to find the best goat cheese, sausages and olives around here, but it's never going to be the same. The amount of delicacies and the quality and freshness just can't be recreated here. Where do I find a Banon?A goat cheese painstakingly wrapped in marinated chestnut leaves. A stall with at least 50 kinds of sausages? Heaps upon heaps of wild mushrooms. Mountains of porcini?

OK, enough already. I did have to try something for lunch to bring me closer to Provence. At least we have Port Madison Goat Cheese here on Bainbridge Island. And I do have the freshest of tomatoes, a little jar of Herbes de Provence, some Fleur de Sel from the Camargue and a drizzle of good olive oil. Not perfect - for one the sound of the market is missing and - even worse - I'm out of rosé!

canning season

Once again! Not that nothing went on between the last post and this one. Oh well. It's been awhile and that's enough said. I'll get straight to what I've been busy with these last weeks. Canning - for one. It's not been the warmest of summers, but the raccoons let us know that the grapes were FINALY ready to harvest. It took me 4 days to pick them all. During that time we got nightly reminders that there were still more grapes to be picked. The announcement was usually made by Bunior - our boston terrier pug mix - barking at the loud snarling noises coming from a family of 6 raccoons prowling the roof. This would lead to dear husband Michael abandoning his sleep for a midnight chase on the roof - armed to the teeth with a broom no less. (Where's that picture?!) Of course it was raining and the tomatoes and blackberries needed to be picked too. AND I caught a couple of hippies trawling my orchard - ladder and all! - for apples. So I've squeezed, juiced, sauced and jellied wheelbarrow loads, but there's still more to be done. Luckily I came across a recipe for chutney that uses apple, grapes and most important - green tomatoes. Of course I've tweaked it so much, since it was too bland for my taste, that it's now my: 

all green tomato, apple and grape chutney          

6 lbs green tomatoes, chopped

10 green apples, peeled, cored, chopped

2 large onions, chopped

4 cups apple cider vinegar

5 cups dark brown sugar

1 tbsp. picillo peppers

1 fresh habanero pepper, finely diced

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp mustard seeds, lightly crushed

1 tbsp turmeric

3" piece juicy ginger root, diced

2 cups golden raisins

21/2 lbs green seedless grapes

Throw everything, except for the grapes, into the largest pot you own - I use a 7 qt Le Creuset cast-iron pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 1 hour. Add the grapes and continue simmering until the chutney starts to thicken. Stir frequently! 

Meanwhile, prepare your jars and lids. I fill my 14 qt stock-pot with as many washed jars and bands and as I can fit, cover them with water and bring to a boil. When the chutney starts to thicken I boil my tongs, ladle and a funnel as well, before removing the hot jars and bands with the tongs to a clean dish towel on the counter. Quickly fill the jars, dip the lids in the boiling water, close up the jars and invert them on the towel for 5 min. Turn them over - they should pop pretty soon. Add more jars and bands to the boiling water and repeat the whole process until all chutney has been canned. 

Great with chicken or lamb, or on ham or roast beef sandwiches.

root vegetable, barley and meatball soup

It's been a while, to say the least.  I could bore you with why I had nothing worth writing about, but that defeats the purpose of keeping quiet and not bothering anybody. Let's just blame it on winter-blah. I could easily hibernate from X-mas till spring. But . . . we've had a few nice days here and there and I've slowly been getting my butt out in the yard. Weeding, tilling; getting the garden ready for planting and otherwise getting my blood to flow - burning way more calories than a hibernating sloth should. 

What to do when you come home ravenous, looking for food and YOU are the cook?  This is when it's good to plan ahead. I think I've finally learned my lesson after many years of not planning and succumbing to that "low-blood-sugar-grazing" of whatever happens to be in sight. Much better to come home to a giant cauldron of soup steaming and bubbling away on the stove. You start your concoction before you head out. Just toss the ingredients in a pot of water, get it to boil, turn to simmer, cover with lid, let it do it's magic and out the door you go! You come home, you strain the brew, add some fresh ingredients, heat a few rolls and sit down. Time to replenish! That easy! Before you know it you're belly up on the couch resting that sore back.

I've been making this soup for a few years now and still love it. The picture is from 2 years ago when I had to try out a set of dishes I was making as my nieces wedding present.

root vegetable, barley and meatball soup

The Stock

2 giant marrow bones

1 onion

1 garlic clove

2 tomatoes

1 rutabaga

1 parsnip

4 celery stalks

4 carrots

5 bay leaves

pinch whole mace

1 tsp. peppercorns

Toss in a 12 qt. stock pot. Bring to a boil, cover with lid, turn to simmer for 2 hours or more.

The Meatballs

1 lb ground pork

1 lb ground lamb

1 egg

pepper, salt, cloves, cayenne to taste

pinch ground thyme

Shape into 11/2" balls.

The Finish

11/2 cup barley

2 large carrots, sliced

1 small head savoy cabbage, shredded

generous amount of shredded basil

Strain the broth. Reserve the root vegetable and cut into cubes. Scrape the marrow into the soup. Add salt to taste. Add the barley and cook for 1 hr or until done. Add the carrot slices, cabbage and reserved root vegetables. Simmer for 5 min.

Serve in bowls topped with shredded basil with a side of heated buttered rolls.

Perfect soup after a hard day's work outside. Rich in flavor, filling but lightened by the crunchy bite of fresh vegetables and herbs.

a little about me (written by a good friend)

I was about to figure out how I should introduce myself, when I remembered this very flattering article my dear friend Greg Atkinson - chef extraordinaire - wrote in his weekly column in The Seattle Times. Since I couldn't have put it better myself, I took the liberty to drag the article right on over. (No cut and paste in Blogger on this browser!) 

Greg initially told me he planned to write the article about my ceramics together with an idea of what I would serve in them. But while I read out the recipe and Greg cooked and served cocktails  . . . he somehow snuck in an interview. 

The recipe in question, Wheat Crusted Halibut Cheeks, was my first concoction after our move from Miami to Bainbridge Island - inspired by the Asian ingredients and fresh fish that enticed us to move to the Pacific Northwest. I hadn't cooked it in a few years - you know how a recipe is in your fave 5 and then you completely forget about it? And what better way than to have Greg Atkinson cook it to remind me why I liked it so much.

It's always fun to have dinner at Greg and Betsy's anyway. I love their house and the whole family. (They have 2 boys as well - Henry and Eric). Besides being an awesome cook and a fun guy to hang out with, Greg makes those wicked cocktails! If only I could remember what went in them!

Well Greg, thank you for our friendship and thank you for writing my introduction for me. Someday I hope to return the favor, but not until I get a few people to read this blog!

Sunday, May 20, 2007 - Page updated at 02:01 AM

Permission to reprint or copy this article or photo, other than personal use, must be obtained from The Seattle Times. Call 206-464-3113 or e-mail resale@seattletimes.com with your request.

BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Marielle Macville of Bainbridge Island has mastered not only the art of cooking but also the skill of using a potter's wheel, from which come distinctive tableware such as this fish-pattern bowl.

Served In Style

Greg Atkinson

For a lot of people, simply preparing a meal from scratch is a big deal. But for Marielle Macville, it's nothing. Born and raised on five acres that she describes as "kind of a hippie farm" in Holland, Macville has been preparing meals from scratch pretty much all her life. And for her, preparing the food for the table is just one final step in a long process of coaxing elements from nature into ingredients ready for the kitchen.

"We always raised our own lambs for meat, and I used to ride my bike to and from the neighboring dairy farms to get fresh milk. We would let it sit for one day so that we could take the cream off the top for butter and whipped cream."

On her own "hippie farm," a couple of well-tended suburban acres on Bainbridge Island, Macville and her husband of 20 years, Michael Drake, are busy parenting two teenage boys of their own. But they still find time to raise apples, kiwis, grapes, vegetables and flowers as well as chickens and ducks for eggs.

"The duck eggs have bigger, dark-yellow yolks, and they are better for making homemade pasta," she says. "The dough comes out stretchy, more rubbery, so the noodles have some bounce to them."

Her father is Indonesian and her mother is Dutch, says Macville, "so our household was a mixed bag of Indonesian and Dutch cultures. My father's side of the family included a lot of cousins and aunts and uncles — their exact relationship was never clear to me when I was a kid, but they cooked the most amazing foods." Traditional Dutch foods like potatoes and greens from the garden were garnished with fiery sambals in the kitchen. And Macville's cooking reflects that heritage with layers of the exotic and the familiar.

It must have been a combination of healthy, farm-fresh food and her unique heritage that gave Macville her extraordinary looks. Her bright blue eyes and dark complexion combined with a radiant smile have given her an edge in a modeling career that has landed her on the covers of Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire and Harper's Bazaar. And even though she lives on Bainbridge, she still flies frequently to New York and other cities for fashion shoots.

Artistic temperament and creativity apparently run in the family. Drake, when he is not holed up in his studio working on the latest screenplays, is busy creating special effects as an independent contractor for the film industry. Her oldest son plays guitar with a band of budding young Bainbridge musicians, and her younger son, while still in middle school is a prolific artist.

Some people might find parenting and modeling while maintaining a garden and a flock of birds too time-consuming to take on anything else, but Macville's creative urges are apparently insatiable. A few years ago, she decided she wanted to craft her own dishes for serving her home-cooked meals. So she signed up for pottery classes through the Bainbridge Island Parks and Recreation Department. Within a few months, she had mastered the fundamental skills required to throw plates, bowls and cups on a potter's wheel.

Before long, she had developed a distinctive style of glazing that makes her pots instantly recognizable as hers. Now she has a collection of handmade ovenware in which she serves some vegetable dishes; she serves seafood in plates and bowls decorated with a fish pattern she thinks she may have seen somewhere in a museum. "I can't remember where I saw this pattern first," she says, "but I've used it so many times in so many variations that I think it has become my signature design."

Greg Atkinson is author of "West Coast Cooking." He can be reached at greg@northwestessentials.com. Barry Wong is a Seattle-based freelance photographer. He can be reached at studio@barrywongphoto.com.

Wheat Crusted Halibut Cheeks

in Mirin Caper Sauce

Serves 6

Marielle Macville has a unique way of combining textures and flavors, but she adds a personal touch to some of her dishes by serving them on handmade ceramic plates and bowls decorated with hand-drawn fish patterns. Macville serves this dish with rice and a green vegetable such as steamed bok choy.

2 ½ pounds (about 18 pieces) halibut cheeks

½ cup mirin (sweet rice wine)

1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

¼ cup naturally brewed soy sauce

1 cup toasted wheat germ

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, or to taste

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ cup peanut oil

¼ cup (½ stick) butter, cut into bits

3 tablespoons capers

3 tablespoons fresh chives, snipped into 1-inch lengths

1 lemon, sliced into thin rounds

1. Marinate the halibut cheeks in the mirin, ginger and soy for 10 minutes.

2. On a dinner plate, combine the wheat germ with the black pepper and cayenne pepper. Lift each piece of fish out of the marinade and dredge it through the wheat-germ mixture to coat it evenly on both sides. Save the marinade to make a sauce.

3. Heat the peanut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it is hot but not smoking. Add half the fish pieces and brown them for about 2 minutes on each side. Lift the fish out of the pan, set them on a platter and cook the remaining pieces in the same way.

4. When all the fish has been browned on both sides, pour the oil out of the pan, pour in the reserved marinade and when it comes to a boil, swirl in the butter to make a sauce.

5. Pile the fish pieces back in the pan with the sauce and allow them to simmer for a few minutes, or until they are heated through. Transfer the fish and sauce back to the platter and garnish the finished dish with the capers, chives and lemon slices.

Marielle Macville, 2007

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company