Recently, Madrona Manor chef Jesse Mallgren (@madronachef on Twitter) hosted a dinner with Chef Scott Anderson of Elements Restaurant in New Jersey. It’s not often that you get two amazing chefs cooking at the height of Dungeness season, pairing 9-plus courses with incredible wines, sake and a pear cider than nearly made me weep.

If you haven’t been to the Manor, you’re missing out. Mallgren is one of my very favorite chefs in Wine Country, and has quietly been turning out some of the most creative, forward-thinking food for several years.

Just to torture you, the following food porn…

Q&A
how did you arrange the dinner?
it started on twitter and moved to email. I have followed Scott of a couple of years on twitter and have read a few blog posts about Elements. I think most chefs are introverts so social media is a good platform for us

I sent Scott a list of all the available produce from our garden and the farmer’s market as well as a list of local fish and meats. He then wrote a menu utilizing things he thought would be nice to work with. I wrote a menu with the remaining ingredients. We both like food that becomes bolder as the night goes along so it was easy to fit them together.

were there any special techniques you used in any of the dishes?
Scott crusted the duck breasts in a mixture of salt and citrus leaves. He the cooked them sous vide for an hour to impart the flavor. After the duck was cooled he took the meat off the bone and grilled it over apple wood. When Scott and his sous chef showed up we walked thru the garden and changed the menu. When you are working with products you are unfamiliar with you have to adjust. Scott and his sous chef did an amazing job taking what I gave them and making beautiful dishes.

The Producers?
The smoked black cod was trap caught just off of the Golden Gate, The duck was Liberty Farms, most of the produce came from the Madrona Garden, Mix Gardens in Healdsburg and various people form the Santa Rosa farmer’s market.  I love Liberty Farms duck. Jim is a great guy who delivers an amazing product. He is a local treasure. His ducks are shipped all over the county to some of the best restaurants

News has just broken that Charlie Palmer (Dry Creek Kitchen), will be rehabbing the St. Helena’s Harvest Inn (which he purchased last winter) to make way for a new restaurant in his ever-growing stable: Harvest Table.

The 110-seat restaurant will focus on (you guessed it) using ingredients sauced from the surrounding areas and the property’s own culinary gardens with a Napa-centric wine list, house made tincture and syrups for seasonal cocktails and Northern California brews and ales. We’re digging the inn’s new Culinary Horticulturist, Laura McNiff, who will be the green thumb shepherding various herbs, berries, greens and fruit from garden to table.

Look for a 2015 opening.

Wine Country Winter restaurant closures are starting to be announced:

Solage’s Solbar in Calistoga will shutter for a revamp in January.

The French Laundry in Yountville will also be undergoing a renovation in the last weeks of December into January, according to sources.

There’s buzz about another high-profile Napa restaurant undergoing some major changes in early 2015, but so far no confirmations.

Zin Restaurant, as reported earlier, will shutter in Healdsburg at the end of December with renovations starting up in early 2015.

Fish Story in downtown Napa has closed. Part of the Lark Creek Restaurant Group, word is that there may be a new concept in the space come spring, but for now, it’s lights out.

Local chef Garrett Adair is planning a new restaurant in downtown Petaluma, slated to open in early 2015. Bistro 100 will focus on local ingredients, beer and wine sourced within 100 miles (of the restaurant)—hence the name. He’ll be opening in the former Blu Restaurant space in the Theatre Square. More news as it develops.

Frosted Cashew Cookie Recipe

By Jane Patrick

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups sifted flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup sour cream
1 3/4 cup salted whole cashew nuts

Cream butte and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with sour cream, mixing well. Carefully fold in cashew nuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool.

Golden Butter Icing
1/2 cup butter
3 T coffee creamer
1/4 tsp vanilla
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
Cashew nuts

Lightly brown butter, remove from heat, add cream and vanilla. Add sugar. Beat until smooth and thick enough to spread. Frost and top with a whole nut.

Chocolate Nutella Cookie Recipe

By Iris Ostling

Prep time 15 minutes (not including chilling or baking time). Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Ingredients

1 ½ C all purpose flour
1 t baking powder
2/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder
½ C (1 stick) butter, softened
½ C sugar, granulated white
½ C brown sugar
2 t vanilla extract
1/3 C milk
¼ – ½ C Nutella for topping
Preheat oven to 325°F.

In a gallon sized Ziploc bag (or whisking together in a small bowl), combine flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. Toss in bag to mix well. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth (about 2 minutes). Add vanilla extract and beat for another 30 seconds. Add in Nutella and beat until smooth.
With the mixer running, add half of the flour mixture and mix until well combined. Add in the milk, mixing until well incorporated. Add in the rest of the flour mixture and mix completely. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 15 minutes (and as long as 2-3 days).

When ready to bake cookies, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll tablespoon sized amounts of dough into balls and place them on the lined cookie sheet, allowing about 2 inches between the dough balls.

Lightly press the dough balls with the flat of your palm. Make an indentation with your thumb in the middle of the dough balls. Add a scant amount (about or less than ⅛ t) of Nutella to the dip in the cookies.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are crackly on top and soft, but starting to set. Remove from the oven and allow them to stand for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Autumn Spiced Snickerdoodles Recipe
By Lynn Bowers

2 ¾ cups all purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
½ t. salt
¾ t. nutmeg
1 t. cinnamon
1 ¼ t. allspice
¾ t. ginger

½ C. butter flavored Crisco
½ C. unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ C. sugar, plus 3 tablespoons
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and ginger into a bowl.

With a handheld or standing mixer, beat together the shortening and butter. Add the 1 ½ cups sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well. Add the flour mixture and mix until smooth.

Mix the 3 remaining tablespoons of sugar with 1 tablespoon of cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll the dough by hand at least 12 seconds into a ball. Roll the ball into the cinnamon sugar.

Bake about 12 to 14 minutes. Cool on a rack.
Makes about 36 cookies

Best Flourless Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

By P. Ferjancsik

These cookies, called “simply the best, crunchiest flourless peanut butter cookies” were a bit curious when we looked at the recipe. Really? Would they hold together? Turns out they lived up to their promise, and were very popular with our judges

Makes 24
1 Cup Peanut Butter  (preferably smooth)
1  Cup Sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 extra large egg, slightly beaten

Mix peanut butter, sugar, baking soda and egg. Roll dough into small (about a tablespoon) balls.
Flatten  balls with fork to make cross hatch pattern.

Cooke for 15 minutes at 350 degrees until brown. Cook on rack.