Inn at West View Farm

Northern Spy's Goat Song and Warm Butternut Salad

2009-10-27T20:33:00.003-04:00

Saturday, we started serving Brad Kessler and Dona McAdam's Northern Spy's Goat Song Tomme as part of a composed salad.

We paired warm roasted butternut squash, baby arugula, grapes, walnuts and a cider vinaigrette with the cheese. In creating the dish, it was important for us to showcase the cheese and not have it lost in a melange of other flavors. We had to make sure we didn't skimp on the cheese. The complimentary ingredients were chosen as they showed the range of the possible favorable flavor combinations in this extraordinary cheese.

In addition to the salad, next week, the cheese will be served in a more traditional wedge format as a pre-dessert or as a sweet dessert alternative.

Race for the Cure 2009

2009-10-24T00:08:00.003-04:00

A little late with this post. The knee sprain (from volleyball) kind of made me want to forget this day. It was a great day nonetheless.

Our team, Eat, Drink, Ski was comprised of the Inn at West View Farm (eat), Brew Your Own Magazine (drink) and Magic Mountain (ski). Great friends and great local businesses. We raised lots of money, top five and ran some great times. Next year the times will be a little better, right?

Goat Cheese in Sandgate, VT

2009-10-23T23:32:00.004-04:00

Of Tomes and Tommes | Seven Days

today, we were fortunate to have brad kessler and dona mcadams here to taste their remarkable cheese. they do an amazing job with their truly artisanal goat cheese. artisanal, to me, is too often over used. we are now one of the few restaurants who will be able to offer northern spy's goat song tomme. the above link is their story. dona took this wonderful picture.

Rock Art Brewery vs Monster Energy Drink

2009-10-15T09:46:00.003-04:00

Boycott Monster Energy drinks and Hansen Beverage Company to show your support for this small Vermont business. Email them with your thoughts at: http://www.monsterenergy.com/web/guest/contact

Mother Myrick with Snow

2009-10-14T11:54:00.002-04:00

Snow on Mother Myrick this morning. Say goodbye to Autumn and hello to Winter. Skiing is not far away.

what a boar!

2009-08-24T10:33:00.004-04:00

We had the good fortune of getting half a boar from Brown Boar Farm last week. We are testing the posibilities of La Caja China's pig roasting box.

I don't know that I am thrilled cooking all the parts of an animal using the same cooking times, technique and temperature. Certain parts of the boar were cooked perfectly (belly) while other parts could have used less time (loin) and others more (shoulder, butt).

The box seemed to get hotter than I would have liked, probably due to lack of experience. My instincts and experience tell me that I would rather cook the boar at a very low temperature for a very long time.

moths, moths, moths

2009-08-20T01:05:00.004-04:00

vermonter's seem to be engrossed by these insects. i traded in my can of raid for a camera one night and these are the photos of the beast that we saw on the side of our house.

i might need two cans for this one.

what evil lurks in the heart of dorset, vt?

2009-08-20T00:26:00.006-04:00

last kid's class at triad

2009-02-24T14:25:00.005-05:00

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king. -Tolkien

Esquire Breakfast

2009-02-23T07:54:00.005-05:00

Esquire's March 2009 issue features the most important meal of the day, breakfast. I was asked to provide a dish that I eat for breakfast. Mine is the pulled baby-back benedict.

Irish Brown Bread

2009-02-18T11:11:00.003-05:00

In memoriam of Mary Blake

I baked you this bread.

The lives you have touched will be nourished for generations.

Beau-tea (茶)

2009-01-26T10:39:00.010-05:00

the following link is a ny times slideshow done by Chang W. Lee which captures life inside a hangzhou tea house beautifully. the slideshow, more importantly, helps to convey the significance of tea in chinese culture.

ny times slideshow

it is important to source really good green tea to understand its true appeal. green tea should be loose, not in tea bags, and green, not brownish, greenish, greyish.

in chinese households, tea is often served in mugs where the hot water is poured over the loose tea leaves and allowed to steep for a few minutes. the chinese will often refer to drinking tea as "eating" tea as you will invariably be eating some of the loose floating tea leaves.

Happy New Year and 吃苦

2009-01-01T19:38:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year to All!!!

The holidays are a challenging time for us in the hospitality biz. It is without a doubt our busiest time of the year. A recurring Chinese phrase "chi ku" (吃苦) or "eating bitter" kept popping into my head as the week went on. Eating bitter is a metaphor for suffering. In Chinese Yin/Yang theory, you can't taste the sweet unless you know what bitter tastes like. Fatigue starts to take over as the holiday season progresses, yet somehow it is okay, as we are often left with a heartfelt thank you from our guests who recognize and appreciate the week's daunting challenge.

Thanks to our guests, during the holidays, we are fortunate to get a taste of bitter and sweet at the same time.

Amuse Bouche- Shrimp Shot

Foie Gras and Moulard Duck with Cranberry and Rosemary

Paige and Luen banging out Black Forest cakes. Not easy, thank you!

Breakfast of Champions

2008-12-08T23:09:00.003-05:00

粥

Chinese breakfast called congee or jook. I had various jooks for over 2o days while in China. Classically the condiments are served on the side and the rice is more soupy than mine. In this jook, I have used fermented tofu, pork sung, pickled cabbage, thousand year old duck egg, scallions and a fish broth.

Taiji on Expert Village

2008-12-08T22:31:00.002-05:00

Tai Chi: Choke Defense -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

I was fortunate to be the crash test dummy for Sifu Rich Marantz when he was making taiji videos with Expert Village. Cool to see the martial applications of taiji; it's not just for health.

Vegetable Garnish

2008-12-08T22:19:00.000-05:00

Potato Puree, Baby Carrots, and Sugar Snap Peas

8 large Yukon Gold potatoes peeled
¼ cup heavy cream
½ cup butter
Kosher salt and white pepper
16 baby carrots peeled and trimmed
2 tablespoons butter
¼ pound snap peas washed and cleaned
1 shallot minced
3 thyme sprigs

Place peeled cut yukons into pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil on high then lower to a simmer. When potatoes are fork tender strain. Put through a potato ricer.
Add the butter, salt and white pepper to the potatoes. In a small sauce pan, heat heavy cream on the stove. Stir the warm heavy cream to the potatoes. Keep in a warm place covered.
In a medium sauté pan, add carrots, chopped shallots, and thyme. Cover with water and bring to a simmer. Cook until water evaporates and carrots are tender and lightly caramelized.
Blanch snap peas in well salted boiling water. Remove from boiling water and add to sauté pan with carrots. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Healthy Vermont

2008-12-03T18:20:00.002-05:00

The American Public Health Association came out with their rankings of the healthiest and least healthy states. The following is from their website:

Vermont Leads Rankings With Statewide Healthy Behavior Changes
America’s Health Rankings™ 2008 edition shows Vermont as the healthiest state for the second year in a row. A broad range of health initiatives have made it possible for Vermont to make progress in areas where the rest of the country needs the greatest improvement. Within the state, the prevalence of smoking has declined to 17.6 percent of the population, there is a slower rise in obesity than the U.S. national average, and the number of people without health insurance remains low.
Vermont leads the nation for all health determinants measured. Vermont was ranked 16th when the first edition of America’s Health Rankings™ was released and has been climbing steadily in the rankings for the last eight years. Strengths include a low percentage of children in poverty, ready access to primary care for residents, a high rate of high school graduation, and high immunization coverage. Over the last year, Vermont has increased its per capita public health funding by 49 percent. Since 1990, the statewide prevalence of smoking has decreased by 43 percent and the infant mortality rate has decreased by 37 percent.

koroken shiai

2008-11-13T20:18:00.001-05:00

Short Rib Recipe (the real one)

2008-10-31T16:36:00.005-04:00

We have gotten a number of calls about this recipe since it was published in Bon Appetit. If anyone has made it based on the printed recipe, please let me know how it came out. After reading the recipe in the recent issue and the original issue it was printed in, it came to our attention that the recipe is not as we submitted in either issue.

So here is the real recipe. It does have a few more steps.

Braised Beef Short Ribs with Baby Carrots and Potato Puree
Inn at West View Farm

YIELD: 8 servings

Ribs are best done one day in advance.

8 large short ribs approximately ½# each
¼ cup canola oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
2 large carrots chopped
1 onion chopped
1 leek chopped
1 whole garlic bulb cut in half
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cardamom
2 tablespoons flour
1 750ml bottle of red wine (merlot)

1. Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. Add ¼ cup of oil into a large oven proof pan and place over high heat.
3. Generously season the short ribs with salt and black pepper on each side.
4. When oil is hot, add short ribs to the pan. Brown ribs on all sides except bone side then remove.
5. Add the carrots, onion, leek, and garlic to the pan. Cook vegetables until browned.
6. Add spices and flour and stir until toasted.
7. Add red wine.
8. Place ribs back into the pan. Add enough water to pan to cover ribs.
9. Bring to a boil and place a lid on pan, allow a vent for steam to escape. Place in oven for 4 hours until ribs are fork tender.
10. Remove pan from oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate overnight.
11. Remove and discard layer of fat that has formed on the top of the ribs.
12. Carefully remove ribs.
13. Place pan with sauce on stove and bring to a boil.
14. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, into a saucepan.
15. Reduce sauce by half.
16. To reheat ribs place in a pan with hot water that comes a ¼ of the way up to the ribs. Place in a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minute.

The photo above is Chef Greg Rems extracting a rib from the flaming pit of death. Greg painstakingly broke down the rib recipe into a mere sixteen steps.

Peking Duck

2008-10-30T21:54:00.006-04:00

This is one of those life long dishes that we chefs torment ourselves over seemingly forever. I have enjoyed Peking duck since my first banquet dinner. But to create it for restaurant service has been a challenge. In my opinion, roasting a whole duck and serving half of it, as is found in many restaurants, is not optimal. Lightly cooking the breast and slow cooking the legs yields the finest results for this bird. In this incarnation, we are using a roasted duck leg confit with a light soy-honey brushing, scallion corn cake and baby bok choy with clementines.

Here, I have taken duck legs and have attempted to treat them like a whole duck would have been prepared. Eating them straight out of the oven was comparable to having a traditional whole Peking duck. However, trying to hold them for service or refrigerating them for service yielded a less than exceptional product.

We served these in a semi-classical style with scallions, hoisin sauce and a scallion crepe in lieu of the traditional pancake.

Asian-Style Baby Back Ribs

2008-10-30T21:43:00.002-04:00

This is our take on Southern style ribs and Chinese take-out ribs. When I was a kid I banged out the Chinese take-out ribs by the hundreds. I was alway amazed at the allure of these ribs as they were typically dry and not very meaty. At some point, I became fascinated with Southern-style ribs, particularly Memphis dry-rubs. So, in our version, we have incorporated a hickory smoke, a Memphis dry-rub and a secret Chinese mop.

Short Ribs in Bon Appetit (again)!

2008-10-19T15:23:00.004-04:00

Manchester Martial Arts Academy

2008-09-23T21:48:00.002-04:00

What is Random?

2008-09-13T23:37:00.006-04:00

Last night reminded us of the seemingly randomness in which events of our lives and others somehow become intertwined. A longtime guest of our restaurant ordered a Henny Penny, a drink which we knew but wanted to confirm it's exact preparation. Christal googled Henny Penny to find out and came across the following NY Times article on the last days of La Caravelle (a restaurant I have always admired).

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E02E5D6143EF935A15756C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

The article bizarrely enough speaks of the guest in our restaurant who ordered the Henny Penny. The article happily gave us a hint as to how remarkable this women's life must have been.

Last summer, guests mistakenly reserved a room at our Inn instead of the Dorset Inn. At breakfast they noticed that in one of the articles written about the Inn that the chef was Raymond Chen. They oddly began questioning Christal about my family and I. My dad's name is also Raymond Chen. As it turned out they were very good friends of my parents when we lived in Queens and had baby sat me when I could barely walk.

The above is a picture of Christal and I while in Bretagne in 1999. We happened to notice it in the NY Times on a Sunday while we were sitting around waiting for my niece to be born. I saw the article and said to Christal, "Oh look, there's the area of France we visited," and "Oh look, there's the restaurant we went to." Then I turned the page. Christal said, "go back, I think we're in that picture." Sure enough, it was us. How easily could this have been overlooked?

So is it random or something greater?

Deadbooks

2008-07-25T00:01:00.004-04:00

It is always a joy when you see unexpected talents and passion in people you know and enjoy. Here is an example shown through my friend and dojo mate, Hasso. Cool things do appear in our sleepy (yet scary) town.