 |
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Cafe Flora's long-awaited cookbook is a must
By HSIAO-CHING CHOU
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER FOOD EDITOR
Cafe Flora is a place of community. It was created by three friends who wanted to establish a vegetarian restaurant that would belong to the neighborhood, be friendly to the environment, and be nurturing to employees. So, it would make sense that when it came time to produce a cookbook the community would be involved.
The "Cafe Flora Cookbook" (HP Books, 258 pages, $25.95) began in 2000 with a bunch of recipes from nearly a decade of kitchen collaboration by various chefs. Cafe co-founder Scott Glascock spearheaded the effort with Catherine Geier, who was executive chef from 1995 to 2000.
"We started off backwards," explains Geier, who had wanted to take a break from being the executive chef and thought the book would be a good project. "We started gathering recipes, a lot of which were ones customers requested."
She scaled down the recipes for home cooks and distributed them for testing.
"But it didn't feel like it was going smoothly. Many of our dishes were hard to scale down and getting the procedure written clearly was hard."
Geier took a year off from the book and went to the East Coast to spend some time. After returning to Seattle, she enlisted the help of Glascock's friend Carol Brown, who is a technical writer. Brown worked on clarifying the recipes so they would make sense to a home cook.
"Then we started looking for a publisher, and at that point, we started writing the book proposal," Geier says. Typically, a cookbook project begins with a proposal, which helps sell the idea to a publishing company and serves as an outline for the author to keep the book on track.
"We wanted the recipes to be well-tested," Geier says. "It was important to us to have them be accurate, so we gathered a group of people across the country to test the recipes."
This process allowed Geier to discard dud recipes and to adjust others according to the comments of the testers. About half of the testers were friends of the writers and cafe owners from across the country and the other half were locals, who gathered recently at Cafe Flora to celebrate the launch of the cookbook.
 | ||
 | Grant M. Haller / P-I | |
| Lisa Maki tastes an asparagus and mushroom-pate pizza at a Cafe Flora party to launch the vegetarian restaurant's cookbook. | ||
Doug Stumberger, who is vegan, and his wife, Julie Blakeslee, who is on the Atkins diet, found a happy medium at Cafe Flora.
"It's one of the few places in Seattle where a vegetarian or vegan can look at an entire menu of options," Stumberger says. "It's fun to have gone here and then read the recipes and try them without having to worry about substitutions."
Blakeslee, who seeks protein for her diet, disliked tofu until she ate at Cafe Flora.
"They won me over with fried coconut tofu," she says.
The coconut tofu involves marinating cubes of tofu in a ginger-tamari-miso mixture, then dipping in coconut milk and dried coconut before frying. The fried cubes are then served with lettuce for wrapping and the cafe's Sweet Chile Dipping Sauce.
Even non-regulars and non-vegetarians were asked to test recipes. The Rasmussen/Phillips family of three, who tested Janine's Wasabi Potato Salad and some of the pizza recipes, think they are proof that the food is good.
"We're not vegetarians, but we eat organic," Laura Phillips says. "We didn't miss the meats."
Maggie Carr loved the Autumn Stroganoff recipe she tested and has made it many times since her introduction to it.
"It's so savory and so earthy," says Carr, who tested four recipes.
David Foecke, co-founder of the restaurant, tested the Stone Fruit Pizza with Brie and Toasted Almonds.
"I'm very excited to see the book after many years of a lot of work by a lot of people," he says.
He explains that Glascock, who died in May this year from cancer at 63, was the person whose passion for the community and for food set the tone for the restaurant and, therefore, the book.
"It's always been a collaborative process and we have a community approach in terms of recipe creation," Foecke says. "We also endeavor to give back to the community by hosting (and contributing to) fund-raisers."
Even though there is an executive chef, orders aren't handed down from atop. If anyone had an idea for a dish, it would get equal consideration. Geier emphasizes that the non-hierarchical structure was the reason she stayed as long as she did.
"I do like working as a team and training and motivating people. Cafe Flora encourages it and it made it easier to work in that kitchen."
The cafe also takes comments from diners seriously.
"The owners wanted Cafe Flora to be an anchor of the neighborhood," Geier says.
The only missing link is Glascock.
"It's sad not to have him here physically, but you can look at anything here and you can see Scott," Foecke says.
CURRIED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP
MAKES 9 CUPS
Peel the butternut squash and cut it in half. Remove the seeds, and cut into 1- to 2-inch chunks. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and saute until the onion is soft and translucent, about 10 minutes, stirring several times. Add the garlic and ginger and cook 2 minutes more. Add the curry powder, cumin and coriander, and saute for 15 seconds, stirring constantly. Add 4 cups of water, the butternut squash and bay leaf, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook, covered, at a low boil until the squash is soft, about 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and puree the soup in batches in a blender, being careful to fill the blender jar no more than halfway. Return the pureed soup to the pot, add the coconut milk, and bring just to a boil. Take the soup off the heat, add the lime juice, and salt to taste. Add cayenne or hot sauce if you want, and serve.
WARM PEAR SALAD WITH ORANGE VINAIGRETTE AND SPICED WALNUTS
SERVES 4
Halve the pears and remove the cores and stems. Cut the pear halves lengthwise in 1/4-inch-thick slices, and set aside. Combine the shallot, orange zest, juice, vinegar, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Whisk in the olive oil until combined. In a medium saucepan, warm the vinaigrette over medium heat until hot. Add the pear slices, and gently turn the pears until they're completely coated and warm, about 2 minutes. Put the salad greens in a large bowl. Pour the pears and the vinaigrette over the salad greens, add half of the spiced nuts, and toss gently, trying not to break up the pear slices. Pile the salad greens onto a deep platter, making sure pear slices are evenly distributed among the greens. Scatter the top of the salad with the spiced walnuts and the cheese. Serve immediately.
SPICED WALNUTS
MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking sheet. Put the walnuts in a mixing bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil, tossing to coat the nuts thoroughly. Mix the spices and salt, and sprinkle the mixture over the walnuts, tossing again to coat fully. Toss again with the powdered sugar. Spread the walnut mixture on the greased baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes, until crisp and brown, stirring the nuts halfway through the roasting time so they toast evenly. Cool completely before serving.
MORE SEATTLE FLAVOR
Local books abound this fall. Check out these other titles:
www.rovers-seattle.com
www.tastingmenu.com/autumnomakase
www.assaggioseattle.com
www.tinibigs.com
-- Hsiao-Ching Chou
ABOUT CAFE FLORA
Cafe Flora, 2901 E. Madison St.; 206-325-9100; www.cafeflora.com
The cafe will participate in the following events:
Oct. 17 -- Cookbook kickoff prix fixe dinner. The menu will feature seven courses for $49. Catherine Geier will be available to autograph copies of the cookbook, which will be on sale for 25 percent off the cover price. Call the restaurant for reservations.
Oct. 21 -- Cookbook signing from 6 to 8 p.m. at Dish It Up, 2425 33rd Ave. W.; 206-281-7800.
Oct. 25 -- Cooking class with Catherine Geier at Whole Foods, 1026 N.E. 64th St.; 206-985-1500 (Ext. 0; ask to register for the class). The class will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and costs $40.
My web site
My Yahoo!
Google
· Drinks: Sugarplum Drop
· Dinner: Pasta with Mixed Mushrooms and Thyme
· P-I Gift Guide: Kitchens gifts and cookbooks
· On Food: The Barefoot Contessa keeps it simple
· Ask the Splendid Table: A perfect dish for the perfect pan
· The Green Kitchen: Simple recipes savor a bounty of chanterelles
· Wine Pick of the Week: 2008 Greenstone Point Pinot Gris (New Zealand) $10
· Drinks: Toddy
· Dinner: Crispy Chicken with Sweet and Spicy Dipping Sauce
· Drinks: Galatoire's Eggnog
· Drinks: How to pair drinks with holiday cookies
· Dinner: Chicken Satay Bites
more
Reader blog: Italian Woman at the TableA Seattleite’s culinary travels
· Meredith Kercher murder case: Prosecutor on the plank
· Flowers picked too soon: In praise of Meredith Kercher
· Meredith Kercher timeline: Her last 12 hours
101 Elliott Ave. W.
Seattle, WA 98119
(206) 448-8000
Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820
seattlepi.com serves about 1.7 million unique visitors
and 30 million page views each month.
Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com
Send investigative tips to iteam@seattlepi.com
©1996-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Terms of Use/Privacy Policy
