In anticipation of Thanksgiving, how about some pairing ideas? There are two classic pairings that we believe will suit the vast array of flavors on your holiday table. For the white wine drinkers, it’s gewurztraminer. This is a full bodied wine with aromas of orange blossom and lychee nut that will stand up to most foods. In addition, it will really bring out the flavor in your classic Thanksgiving starches…yams, potatoes, and stuffing. Also, if you prefer white meat turkey, it is a match made in heaven.

For the red wine drinkers…how about a little gamay? It will be a harmonious wine with just enough body to bring out the moisture in the turkey. This wine even has a soft enough finish to pair with the ever so tart cranberry.

Now, even if you are full, there is always room for dessert! There is nothing better than a little pumpkin pie after a large meal.  The trick then is to drink something on the lighter side. A late harvest riesling will have just the right amount of body and sweetness to compliment the pumpkin. However, if you are looking for something even lighter, a moscato d’asti is a delightful companion. With just a touch of effervescence, it will help you end your evening on just the right note!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Starting Friday, November 28th and available until New Year’s Eve, all Purple locations will feature some “sweet” holiday specials. For starters, our famous, homemade sea-salt caramels will be packaged in a special holidays box and on sale for $13/dozen.

In addition, Executive Pastry Chef Natalie West will unveil her Holiday Dessert Trio which consists of White Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake, Eggnog Panna Cotta and Bacon Ginger Cookies. The trio sells for $9 or $15 paired with wine.

As the leaves turn and the days shorten, we at Purple Cafe are changing our menu to better suit the blustery days and drizzly rain. During this time of year we start thinking more about red wine, braised meats, gourds and local tree fruits like apples, pears and quince. This is a time of year when most chefs really like to roll up their sleeves and prepare some hearty dishes to fend off the cold.

Zach, our chef in Woodinville, has created several new menu items to really capture the essence of what satisfies those cold weather appetites. Here are a few samples…

House Made Country Style Pate - This pate is made in the traditional old style, with 100% pork, cognac and spices. We serve it with some traditional and non-traditional garnishes that include Spanish marcona almonds, pickled red onions and quince mustards. Pates go exceptionally well with German and Alsatian white wines, but also really sing with a glass of Oregon Pinot Noir.

Ricotta Gnocchi - If you’ve ever made gnocchi, you know how much sheer work is involved. Every bite of homemade gnocchi should be savored, as it represents a good deal of effort. We’re happy to do all of the work for you, so that you can enjoy these tasty little dumplings accompanied by the best wild mushrooms of the moment, and a luscious truffle cream. This is another great wine dish, especially with Italian Nebbiolo-based reds from Piedmont.

Braised Niman Ranch Pork Shank - Niman Ranch is a consortium of farms that focus on humane treatment of their livestock and it makes us proud to serve such products at Purple Cafe. We braise these shanks with a good deal of aromatics including black pepper. Then we serve the meltingly tender meat falling off of the bone with a pasta called fregola. Fregola is a tiny, spherical pasta also known as Sicilian cous cous. We also serve some roasted squash with the dish which has been seasoned with rosemary and sage. This is another great red wine dish which can stand up to really big-bodied wines. We recommend a Syrah or Rhone Valley wine to tackle the richness of the dish and play off the black pepper and herbs.

This is but a few of some of the delicious new fall menu items available in our Woodinville location. If you’ve never been to our restaurant in Woodinville, spend an afternoon at one of the local wineries and then swing into Purple Cafe for a delectable autumnal meal and a nice bottle of wine. We’ll take care of all the work so you can focus on staying warm and enjoying yourself.

Today is the first day of some new menu items at the Downtown Seattle Purple Cafe.  The menu features delicious seasonal changes as well as some creations by new Chef Fernando Martinez!  New menu items include:

Starters

• House Made Pumpkin Gnocchi
• Cider Braised Beets
• Bruschetta

Salad

• Baby Spinach
• Warm Mushroom

Sandwich

• Vegetarian
• Niman Ranch Pastrami

Pizza

• Bianca
• Provencale
• Gorgonzola Pear

Pasta

• Fresh Papardelle

Entrees

• Pan Roasted Steelhead
• Crispy Duck Leg Confit
• Free Range Chicken Breast
• Whiskey Brined Grilled Pork Tenderloin
• Grilled Ahi Tuna
• Braised Lamb Shank

Now through Sunday, Purple Woodinville is celebrating the food and wine of Italy.  Each night, all food and wine specials are of the Italian variety.  Some samples from last night include a manila clam linguini with pancetta, garlic, basil and a white wine butter sauce…paired with icardi l’aurora cortese from Piedmont and risotto with grilled fennel, roasted tomato puree, arugula and mozzarella cheese, paired with col d’orcia from the Montalcino Region of Italy.  If Italian cuisine is your thing…make sure to stop in before Sunday!

Too good to be true right?  Well, thanks to Purple Kirkland Pastry Sous Chef Raymi Gallagher, you can experience this sinful dessert this weekend at our Kirkland location.  This Friday and Saturday night, Raymi will feature Pumpkin Mascarpone Profiteroles with Mascarpone Cream and a Pumpkin Ale Caramel Sauce.  For the sauce, she will be using the Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale!  Raymi mentioned that she has been wanting to incorporate seasonal beers into her desserts and this is her first attempt…stop in and give it a try!

We have received some emails asking for our Bucheron Goat Cheese appetizer recipe…you want it, you got it! On our menu, it reads Bucheron Goat Cheese, warmed and topped with fireweed honey, dried cranberries and lemon thyme.

Bucheron is sometimes labeled Boucheron or Boucherondin. They are the same cheese. It is an aged goat cheese from the Loire Valley in France and it comes in the shape of a log. It should have a bloomy white rind, an almost molten, gooey layer under the rind and a chalky center. It should be ice white in color all the way through. Avoid any cheese that is discolored in any way such as mold spots (good for some cheeses, but not this one), or a characteristic yellow discoloration that is typical of cheese that has been cut and held too long. For this appetizer, we will use 10-12 ounces of cheese which will serve 3-4 people.

Ingredients

• 10-12 ounces of bucheron boat cheese, cut into 1/2″ thick rounds
• 1/4 cup fireweed honey
• 3 tablespoons dried cranberries, chopped
• 1 teaspoon lemon thyme, picked
• artisanal cracker for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the disks of cheese in an oven safe dish and bake for 6-8 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to turn golden brown.

Remove cheese from the oven and drizzle with fireweed honey. Sprinkle with chopped cranberries and picked lemon thyme. Serve immediately with artisanal crackers. Enjoy!

Note: Goat cheese does not exactly melt. The gooey section will bubble, but the center will remain chalky in texture.

Tip: Lemon Thyme is available at most specialty food stores. If you cannot find it, regular thyme is fine to use.

Get them now, ’cause they’re going fast!! Most people think of warm summer days and ripe, just-picked tomatoes as going hand in hand. Unfortunately, as dreamy as this visage sounds, only Southerners get to enjoy fully plump, ripe, local tomatoes in June and July. Here in the Pacific Northwest, our tomatoes are actually at their best right now, in mid-September, and continue to improve until October or the first frost, whichever comes first.

Oddly enough, many of the best tomatoes go right into a can as tomatoes are very difficult to ship ripe. They are delicate and can go bad very fast when they are at their premium. This is why most of the year, fresh tomatoes are picked green and gassed in order to turn a bright red color. Unfortunately, these tomatoes taste more like the vine they were picked from than a tomato. This is why you should really enjoy fresh tomatoes for the 2-3 months that they are ripe and in season…then get your tomato fix from imported Italian San Marzano tomatoes out of a can for the rest of the year. we will readdress San Marzano tomatoes in a future blog.

Nowadays, heirloom tomatoes are all the rage. Ten years ago, you would really have to know someone who grew them or do a lot of fine dining to get these beautiful, delicate and perfumed tomatoes. Today, heirloom tomatoes are available even in your everyday grocery store. Be especially careful of purchasing these tomatoes in the off-season though, because they will be there year round whether they are good or not. Just because the tomatoes come from heirloom seeds doesn’t mean they they will be ripe of grown in the ground as opposed to a “hothouse”. There are a number of charlatans who have begun to market their heirloom tomatoes by using the name as a buzzword, but they are essentially hothouse tomatoes grown from heirloom seeds.

We are featuring heirloom tomatoes right now at our Seattle location in a variety of ways, all of which are designed to show off the beauty of these tomatoes with minimal fanfare. Try the heirloom tomato caprese, or the roasted fennel ravioli with heirloom tomatoes, or even the filet mignon with heirloom tomatoes, Tuscan olive oil and fingerling potatoes.

For the perfect pairing, try a dry rose from Southern France. The fresh fruity and herbal aromatics of the wine help to balance the salty/sweetness of the heirloom tomatoes.

On Thursday, September 18th, 20% of the lunch proceeds from all 3 Purple Cafe’s will be donated to Page Ahead Children’s Literacy Program. Founded in 1990, Page Ahead has placed almost 1.7 million new books into the hands of 550,000 at-risk children through collaborations with schools, social service agencies, preschools, and early childhood centers across Washington State. Come enjoy lunch with us on Thursday and help us Dish Up Literacy!

Director of Liquids Christene Prentice and Woodinville Wine Manager Deran Garabedian have recently discovered Challenger Ridge Vineyard & Cellars, a little gem of a winery on the west side of the mountains. Challenger Ridge is part of the Puget Sound AVA (American Viticultural Area/Appellation) which also happens to be Washington’s only official AVA on the west side of the Cascade Mountain Range.

They offer a wide variety of reds and whites from different vintages…Christene commented, “we love the balance of bright berry fruit and well-integrated oak, which is a breath of fresh air these days.” In addition, “the pricing on these wines is the next best thing, well within a persons budget…you could drink a bottle a day, and one should!!”

Currently, the Seattle Purple Cafe features the reserve pinot noir while the ‘03 cabernet sauvignon and ‘04 pinot noir are being poured at both Kirkland and Woodinville Purple locations. Stop in and give this little winery a try!