Notes, Recipes and Articles from Chef Rosemary Campiformio

• A Short Guest Column from the Sonoma West Times & News
• Wild Mushroom Tart
• Wild Fennel Soup
• Take a Bite of The Wild Side Article by Rosemary
• A Profile of Rosemary from Sonoma Style Magazine

On the seventh of January, 2002, the Restaurant at St. Orres celebrated its 25th birthday. On good days, it's hard to believe that for two decades I've been working in our tiny kitchen creating what I believe is a cuisine that reflects the spectacular geography and natural richness of our North Coast. On the occasional bad day (and there really haven't been that many), it seems longer. What's most important is that it's always been exciting and challenging.

When people ask me what North Coast Cuisine is­ and a lot of people do­ I tell them it's a style of cooking that uses ingredients native to the area, food created from elements that occur (or should occur) naturally in the landscape and the sea outside my windows. That makes it a cuisine in which foraging, real and as a metaphor, plays a vital part.

I've been a forager ever since I can remember. My twin brother and I were going out looking for mushrooms in the woods of Connecticut with my grandfather when we were four years old.

My grandfather taught me to look at what the animals were eating. I do. That's where I got the idea for my Stuffed Roses with Champagne Vinaigrette. I went out into our rose garden at the inn and realized that the deer were cleaning out the rosebuds. I thought, "Well, I guess I'm not going to have a lot roses, but if anybody's going to eat our buds, it ought to be our guests." That recipe has attracted a lot of attention. The same sort of experience led to the wild huckleberry sauce we use on one of our venison dishes and to my combination of blackberries and quail.

Some elements that play a large role in our menus still thrive locally, like wild boar, sea urchins, mushrooms, greens, blackberries, fennel, truffles, ling cod, and crab. Some, like abalone, should still exist locally but have been destroyed by greed.

In fact, for a long time I tried to keep farmed abalone as a menu option because I think it reminded us, the staff and our guests alike, of what we've lost and how carefully we should be harvesting from nature as treasures like sea urchins, truffles, and wild mushrooms are threatened by that same sort of greed.

Speaking of truffles, one of the things I'm proudest of learning since I moved to the North Coast is how to follow wild boar to search out white truffles. I kept following their tracks, watching, and finding great mushrooms and other delicacies and then suddenly it was like these light bulbs spelling out "T-R-U-F-F-L-E-S" went on over my head. I looked and there they were!

Actually, that sounds too easy. I need to emphasize the "kept" part that precedes "following, watching, and finding." I learned and discovered because I kept at it. St. Orres is still open because my partners and I kept at it. Trying once and quitting because it didn't work wasn't something my grandfather would have allowed when I was small and it's something I haven't allowed myself to do since I've been an adult.

And that brings me to the first of the reasons I was pleased when Larry McDonald invited me to do this column*. I want to encourage you to adopt that Never Give Up attitude when it comes to cooking. Keep at it.

The second reason is to encourage you to experiment with foraging on your own Look where you live! Figs and walnuts and apples and persimmons fall off the trees and lay in the gutters. Blackberries and huckleberries ripen and die on the bush. Those are the things you should be cooking with!

Finally, my consuming passion (which is a pun) is that what you can't forage, you should buy locally. Small farmers and growers live and die by our decisions in the market. People like Leonard Diggs in Forestville are working their hearts out to provide us with the best food in the world. The least we can do is use what they offer us with joy and excitement!

And those are the words I want to leave you with: Joy and Excitement. That's what your time in the kitchen should be about. That's what your time at the table should be about. And I hope that's what your life is all about!

Come up and see us if you can!

Use your favorite 10-inch tart crust recipe. Bake the tart shell ahead and fill with the following mixture:

Ingredients:

• 3 ounces dried boletus (porcini, cepe) that have been reconstituted
• 1 cup fresh wild mushrooms (from the market)
• 1 medium red onion
• 12 sprigs fresh Italian parsley
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons sweet butter
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 cup veal stock
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Chop the red onion and parsley together.
• Heat the olive oil and butter in a heavy saucepan. Sauté the onion and parsley until the onion is translucent.
• Add the fresh mushrooms, boletus, and tomato paste. Simmer for a few minutes.
• Add the veal stock and simmer until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
• Add the eggs, cheese, salt and pepper.
• Pour the filling into the pre-baked tart shell and bake in a 375° oven for about 25 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and let the tart rest before slicing and serving.

Ingredients:

Soup-

• 3 large wild fennel bulbs, cleaned
• 4 large potatoes
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Milk or additional stock to thin
• Salt and pepper

Garnish-

• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped
• Pernod
• Wild fennel flowers (if available)

Method:

• Cut the potatoes and fennel into small chunks. Dice the onion.
• In a stock pot melt the butter on low and add the potatoes. Sauté the potatoes for about 10 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and stir.
• Add the diced onion and sauté until the onion is wilted. Add the wild fennel bulbs to the mixture and continue cooking for 10 more minutes.
• Add the chicken stock and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and let the mixture simmer until the fennel bulb pieces are tender.
• Place mixture in a blender or food processor and purée.
• Return to pot and warm at medium heat, adding cream gradually. Do not allow to boil.
• To serve warm, pour into individual bowls, garnish with dollops of whipped cream and a dash of pernod. To serve chilled, refrigerate immediately and garnish just before serving.

*This column was originally published in the Sonoma West Times & News, Sebastopol CA.

• The Dining Room
• The Hotel
• The Meadows Cottages
• The Creekside Cottages
• Gifts from St.Orres
• A Profile of Rosemary
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