In the Pays Basque, adding Borda to the name of an eating establishment signifies a rustic country inn. In Euskera, borda means barn and the original Bordas were kitchens set up in underused barns, often with the cooking done over wood-fired braziers and guests served at long rows of tables, outdoors when weather permitted. Although no one is likely to confuse the the bright, modern dining room at Haraneko Borda with a barn, its kitchen does feature a wood fired grill and oven, the room is framed by ancient wood beams and on sunny days, tables are set up on the expansive deck looking over the green, rural valley of Itxassou.

The restaurant at Haraneko is actually part of an expansive organic farm called Ferme Heranea where owner Christian Aguerre raises the ancient race of Basque black hogs known as “cochon noir de kintoa”, rumored to produce the best pork in France, was well as fruits and vegetables including the sour cherries for which the valley of Itxassou has become known. Starting a restaurant on the property was a logical next step in the farm’s evolution, creating a a dining experience that the chef calls “zero kilometer local”, meaning that the majority of the ingredients come directly from the restaurants own farm. Ham and pork from kintoa hogs, corn for taloa (Basque corn pancakes), chickens, eggs, piment d’Espelette, fruits and vegetables all from the farm. Even the wine served, although not all produced within 1 kilometer, all comes from the Pays Basque.

The cooking at Haraneko matches the setting, being both rustic and accomplished, sophisticated but simple, the kind of food I love to discover and to eat.

When we visited for lunch during the week in early May 2019, reservations were easy to get and the menu prices very fair. However, that could change, as Borda Haraneko has been discovered, recently being named Best Farm-Auberge in France by Le Fooding.

Haraneko Borda
Address: 3 Gerastoko Bidea, 64250 Itxassou, France
Tel: 05 59 15 09 68
Reservations: Recommended. Not busy outside the season but hours can be irregular

There’s a new fromagerie in Orthez (officially in Argagnon but that is only about 4 minutes from Orthez). This is big news because 1) well things can move pretty slow in Orthez and it is therefore not that often that we arrive to find something totally new and unexpected has opened up and 2) goat cheese is not really the cheese of choice in SW France. With all due respect to Rocamadour and Cabécous from the Midi-Pyrenees, this is the Atlantic end and in the Béarn and Basque countries, the its all about sheep milk tomes, with Ossau Iraty being the reigning king.

The farm Les Chevres de Brassenx is a modest operation, with only about 60 animals and sales only at 3 local farmer’s markets and direct at the farm 3 days a week. When we stopped by, cheese making had just restarted after the winter period when the goat’s stop producing milk, which means limited supply and mostly young cheeses available. But for all that, the cheeses are beautifully made and redolent of fresh, raw milk…no surprise given that the owners (career changers like myself) learned their new craft working in the Poitou-Charente, the most prolific region in France for goat’s milk cheeses.

The other benefit of a spring visit is that the farm is literally awash in baby goats! Not to mention a border collie very insistent on playing fetch, 2 barn cats who seem a bit starved for attention and Monsieur the cheese maker who was more that happy to stop what he was doing to explain the functioning of the farm and cheese making laboratoire (and to introduce the animals).

The only thing we missed was meeting the troupeau, the herd of milking females, a mix of Alpine and Saanen goats. They apparently spend the majority of these spring days munching the flower and herb filled grasses of the farm’s pastures. Looking out across the prairie toward the Pyrenees, who can blame them?

Penn Cove Shellfish was established in 1975 by the Jefferds family in Coupville, Whidbey Island, and is the oldest commercial mussel farm in the United States.  Today, the Jefferds are still hard at work producing some the best sustainably farmed oysters, clams and mussels available anywhere.  Our friend Rawl Jefferds has driven the delivery truck every week for as long as we can remember (and we have been buying his products for over 20 year) and is always quick to offer his personal assessment of which oyster are the firmest, briniest, plumpest and just plain most delicious on any given day.  Chef Jim Drohman loves the fact that all their shellfish is still in Puget Sound when he calls in orders for Le Pichet and Cafe  Presse.

Quick photo of me at lunch with the part of the Drohman family that lives in Alsace…where, incidentally,it is spelled Drohmann.  This photo only shows a part of the group, which numbered about 25 guests, all of whom are either cousins, cousines or their spouses and children.

This branch of the family split from my branch in the early 1800’s when two brothers, George and Johan Drohmann, left Germany headed for America. For reasons unknown, one stopped in Alsace in a town named Flaxlanden and the other continued (on foot!) to Calais and on to the U.S.

Lunch was at an inn called Au Coq in the little town of Illfurth in southern Alsace. The menu included carpe frites, a specialty of the region of the Sungau, as well as bouchées a la reine, a sort of puff pastry shell filled with a creamy mixture of chicken and mushrooms, and pot au feu, or beef shank simmered in broth, as well as lots of good Alsatian wine.

An after lunch walk along the canal of the Rhine river was definitely welcome!

In case you didn’t get the memo, there are some changes coming to the University District and Broadway Farmer’s Markets.

The University District market will be leaving its location at just south of the University Heights Community Center, its location since 1993, to make way for a new city park.  Instead, from 9am to 2pm, every Saturday of the year, all year long, University Way NE, popularly known as The Ave, between 50th and 52nd streets will close to become the market’s new home.  That’s right, they are moving into the street.  Here are full details from the Neighborhood Farmer’s Market Alliance.

I have always considered the U-District the best market in Seattle, and am hopeful that the move will be a positive step in its long term development.

At the same time, the Broadway Farmer’s Market, which formerly was open from 11am to 3pm on Sundays between May and early December, has recently announced that it will now be open all year round.  Although frequented by a smaller number of venders than the U-District market, the convenience of the Broadway Market’s  location at the corner of Broadway and Pine makes it an important destination.  News of the year round dates  is a very welcome change (especially when we run out of something at Cafe Presse on a Sunday, as happened last week).

According to a recent article in Reuters, a Washington State farmer has filed suit against Monsanto.  Seems that his 2011 crop of alfalfa was rejected by a Japanese purchaser after it tested positive for GM material.  The odd thing is that the alfalfa in question was grown with seeds purchased from Monsanto in 2010, before GM alfalfa was approved for sale by the USDA.

Is anyone surprised?

What:  Benefit for Green Plate Special at the Corner Table
When:  Tuesday September 24, 2013, 6:30pm
Where:  The back room at Cafe Presse

Cafe Presse is proud to Welcome Green Plate Special to the Corner Table!

We are pleased to announce that the September 2013 Corner Table Dinner at Cafe Presse will be a fundraising event to benefit Green Plate Special.

Café Presse’s Corner Table dinners are designed to celebrate the changing season and the conviviality of the table. This special edition of the Corner Table will feature a menu designed by GPS Director and Chef Laura Dewell in collaboration with Chef Jim Drohman of Le Pichet and Cafe Presse.  Laura’s menu has been designed around fresh produce picked just a few minutes away, in the Central District, where Green Plate Special’s garden has been inspiring and empowering middle school youth to grow, cook, and enjoy healthy foods for the past three years.

The cost is $75 per person, which includes wine, tax and tip.  All proceeds will go directly to Green Place Special. Space is limited.  For information or reservations please call Café Presse at 206.70

Menu

Falafels des fèves, condiment aux courgettes, sauce blanche
“Amuse bouche of crispy dried fava fritters served with zucchini relish and garlic-yogurt sauce”

Salade aux légumes « fin d’été », croutons aux rillettes de thon
“Salad of Romano beans, sweet peppers, tomatoes, basil and chicory, with local albacore rillettes on grilled baguette slices”

Ragoût au porc et aux haricots blancs, chou frisée et confiture de tomates
“Natural pork shoulder braised with white wine, scarlet runner beans and rosemary, served with toasted garlic kale and tomato jam”

Clafouti aux poires et aux groseilles du Cap, et sa crème fouettée
“Dense vanilla custard baked with ground cherries and pears, with ground cherry purée and whipped cream”

Here’s more info about GPS and Laura in their own words:

Green Plate Special (GPS) is a cooking and food-growing nonprofit program, supporting the nutritional and physical health of middle school youth, grades 5-8, primarily low income. As an after-school, field trip and holiday-camp program, we teach young people how to grow and cook healthy whole foods in a home-garden and home-kitchen setting. We are located in Seattle’s Central District, on the corner of MLK Jr. Way and East Union Street. Our programing is free and sliding-scale need based.

Mission:
Through teaching home-focused cooking, food growing and how to shop for food;  we will inspire and empower middle school youth in our community to eat and live healthier lives. We will be a part of the solution to breaking the cycle of childhood obesity and other food related health issues.

Laura Dewell, Founder and Executive Director –Green Plate Special
Laura has been cooking and working in the culinary world for over 25 years. She has owned and operated multiple restaurants, including Pirosmani in Seattle and taught cooking privately and through culinary programs around Seattle.  In the last 10 years, Laura has worked with elementary and middle school children, teaching hands-on cooking classes. With a BA in Child Psychology from the University of Oregon, Laura is now doing her life’s (other dream) of working with middle school youth in both the kitchen and garden in the central district of Seattle. She now digs in the dirt and stirs a pot of soup quite regularly.

]]> https://www.jimdrohman.com/blog/2013/09/04/fundraiser-for-green-plate-special/feed/ 0 https://www.jimdrohman.com/blog/2013/05/29/chicken-fricasse-with-mushrooms-and-creme-fraiche/ https://www.jimdrohman.com/blog/2013/05/29/chicken-fricasse-with-mushrooms-and-creme-fraiche/#respond Wed, 29 May 2013 08:00:32 +0000 https://www.jimdrohman.com/?p=3286 Many people don’t think of slow simmering when deciding what to do with a chicken.  However, farm raised chickens lend themselves very well to this treatment, since they are generally full of flavor, less fatty and a bit firmer in texture than standard birds (which is to say tougher, especially in the legs).  All three of these traits are a good thing in my mind, but need to be taken into account when cooking;  slow, moist cooking yields chicken that is fork tender and very moist.

This recipe will feed 4 comfortably using a 4# chicken and more if you have a big farm raised bird.  When feeding just two, I like to roast the breasts for one meal, then stew the legs and giblets  for a second, thus stretching the my food dollar;  farm raised chickens are tasty but can be considerably more expensive than factory birds.

Use morel mushrooms in place of buttons (or use both kinds)  and serve with asparagus for a true spring meal.

Chicken legs simmering with cream and creme fraiche.

According to an article in the New York Times, by Anne Raver, by some estimates, there are now about 400,000 farms in North America that use draft animals in some capacity…who knew?  Interesting article, though.