The SacFoodies team hosted a Thanksgiving potluck today, and in honor of the approaching holiday, we’ll be sharing some of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes with you for the next week.
Archives for November 2011
Simply the Best Warm Spinach Salad
How far would you travel for food? You know, to sample a really special entrée or dessert that makes you think, “This is the best I’ve ever tasted!”
As it turns out, I know quite a few people who are crazy like that. My friend Robin thinks nothing of traveling 30 miles to Auburn for a slice of what she calls “the best cherry pie” she’s ever tasted. I know several people who have hamburger neuroses and will travel great distances for the best burger. Donna, for example, will hit the road to San Francisco for a Joe’s Cable Car burger any day of the week. And Kelly will drive an hour to Pietros in Vacaville just for a bowl of their minestrone soup.
I think I have you all beat, though. I would gladly travel the 1,000 or so miles it takes to return to the Purgatory Lodge at Durango Mountain Resort in Durango, Colo., to enjoy Executive Chef Charley Curtis’ Warm Spinach Salad. Frankly, anything Charley decides to dish up, I’d enjoy! But, if you’re looking for simply the best spinach salad you’ve ever tasted – a recipe he inherited and has adapted from his mother and grandmother – this one is really special.
“You can endlessly and easily re-invent this salad without much work,” Charley said. “I’ve added grilled chicken, pan-seared Ahi tuna, just about any imaginable sort of nut (I recommend toasted hazelnuts), sundried tomatoes, brined European olives, grilled Andouille sausage, all kinds of sliced fresh apples and pretty much anything else I’ve had laying around in my refrigerator or pantry.”
Lucky for you, Charley has shared his recipe with us (you can all thank me later!), but I would still highly recommend a jaunt to southwestern Colorado where you can enjoy this and many other culinary delights at the Durango Mountain Resort’s seven restaurants.
Warm Spinach Salad
Ingredients
1 pound thick-cut peppered bacon, cut into ½ inch cubes
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1 tablespoon minced garlic
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup unfiltered apple cider
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
¾ to 1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 pound cleaned baby spinach
1 pint fresh grape tomatoes
¼ small red onion, thin julienned
Directions
Render bacon in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Remove bacon and reserve. Add shallots and garlic to rendered bacon fat and stir until translucent. Add brown sugar and whisk until bubbly. Add apple cider and turn heat to high. Whisk in Dijon mustard and apple cider vinegar. Remove from heat. In a large bowl, toss together spinach, tomatoes, julienned onions and warm dressing. Garnish with reserved bacon bits. Serve immediately.
Recipe courtesy of Charley Curtis, Executive Chef, Durango Mountain Resort
Tell us, what’s the best food you’ve ever tasted, and how far do you travel to enjoy it?
Searsucker, San Diego
Sometimes, it’s tough living the life of a SacFoodie. Just a few weeks back my job required me to travel to sunny San Diego and partake in a five-course lunch at “Top Chef” Brian Malarkey’s highly praised restaurant Searsucker with a group of lively and personable media on behalf of our client, the United States Potato Board.
Chef Brian Malarkey and his team went the extra mile in creating the special potato lunch menu just for us. The meal began with an amuse bouche of a fingerling baked potato – one heavenly bite of fingerling potato topped with melted cheese, crispy bacon, sour cream and chives.
Next up was my favorite course (with the exception of dessert, that is). The surf clam chowder featured petite potatoes in a rich yet light-bodied broth with fresh seafood – oh, and bacon too.
The meal only got better from there with a third course of Yukon salmon and Yukon Gold potato mash, and a fourth course of bacon (yes, more bacon!) chicken terrine and red potato salad. (Chef Brian, if you will tell me what the sauce in that red potato salad was, I promise we can be friends forever).
Little did we know, the best was yet to come with dessert – purple potato pie created by Searsucker’s pastry chef Rachel King. This square of purple goodness with a creamy whipped cream-like topping was to-die-for. In fact, it’s so great that we asked Rachel for the recipe – which she was kind enough to share and we will be posting next week.
As if we weren’t happy enough after the dessert course, the elevator doors opened (did I mention we had to take an elevator, complete with couch-like seating inside of it, to access the private dining room?) and in walked Chef Brian himself. He posed for pictures and chatted with all of us – and, it was even his birthday! What a guy, right?
Did I mention this was all in a day’s work?
Searsucker
611 Fifth Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101
Dine and Donate at The Firehouse
This week, you can do your part in helping the community (as well as your appetite) by dining at one of SacFoodies’ favorite spots, The Firehouse in Old Sacramento. The restaurant will donate 15 percent of revenue to Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services through this Saturday, Nov. 12.
Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services provides free emergency goods and services to nearly 15,000 men, women and children each month. The nonprofit also offers no-cost programs to combat hunger, improve literacy, strengthen families, educate youth and mentor parents.
Reservations at The Firehouse are recommended and can be made by calling (916) 442-4772 or by visiting www.FirehouseOldSac.com.
The Firehouse
1112 Second Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Wordless Wednesday: Torchy’s Damn Good Tacos – Austin, Texas
Tacos from left: The Democrat (shredded beef barbacoa topped with fresh avocado, queso fresco, cilantro and onions, served with Tomatillo Sauce on a fresh corn tortilla); and Jalapeno Sausage, Egg & Cheese breakfast taco from Torchy’s Damn Good Tacos in Austin, Texas.