Chef Cathy Whims From Nostrana in Portland Vancouver Is At Eat! Vancouver
More of our pre-coverage on EAT! Vancouver as tickets are going fast and we don’t want you to miss out. Here’s our Q + A with Chef Cathy Whims From Nostrana, one of the best Italian restaurants in Portland. EAT! Vancouver takes place from November 4 to 9, 2019 and there are all sorts of culinary experiences brought to you by local and visiting chefs. Chef Cathy Whims of Nostrana is joining Chef Pino Posterara at Cioppino’s in Yaletown on Thursday, November 7th – tickets for $225 here.
Tell us a little bit about your restaurant and/or style of cooking.
Nostrana is a restaurant that aims to create the experience of an Italian trattoria by using the best ingredients of the region and cooking in the most traditional manner, including wood fire cooking.
Where do you eat in your city? Where to Eat in Portland?
Here are three of my go-to restaurants in Portland:
Burrasca – This intimate restaurant is owned and run by Chef Paolo Calamai and is like stepping into a 1970s trattoria in Florence. His classic dishes are beautiful and conjure up the best memories of Tuscan dining.
Bar Avignon – Both a restaurant and a wine bar, Bar Avignon is a lovely Southeast neighborhood spot that hits everything for me – a well selected glass of wine (or bottle), perhaps some oysters, and then dinner. Their wine list is superb.
Nimblefish – This is possibly the best sushi restaurant I’ve ever eaten in. The fish comes from both Japan and the Oregon coast and is served perfectly. I have a hard time restraining myself and typically order more than I thought I would. Added bonus is that the wine list is very good.
What would be your ideal food day?
This changes for me, but today it would be a day in the mountains above Cortona, Italy. I’d be cooking Tuscan pork ribs and potatoes with fennel pollen, which I finally successfully cooked as they should be!
What trend do you wish would die?
Heavy, show-off dude food.
What food trend do you wish would be next?
More and more vegetables.
What ingredient do you always have on hand?
Extra virgin olive oil.
What’s your go-to recipe when you’re eating at home?
Spaghetti con olio e bottarge.
What equipment do you wish you had in your kitchen?
I love my kitchen but it would be great to have a bigger mortar and pestle.
What cookbook do you suggest every cook should have?
The Classic Italian Cookbook, by Marcella Hazan
What is one of the dishes you will prepare for Eat Vancouver?
Garganelli alla nursina – pasta with mushroom, black truffle and sausage sauce from the town of Norcia, Umbria
What are you most looking forward to about Eat Vancouver?
I think Vancouver is an unparalleled food city and the most visually stunning in North America.
Recipe for Quail with Figs
Cathy Whims’ Qualgie Con Fichi Serves 6
FIG JAM:
2/3 cup sugar
juice from one lemon
1 pint fresh figs, halved and stemmed
1 teaspoon lemon zest
QUAIL:
8 semiboneless quail
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 pieces of bacon, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large shallot, diced
1/2 cup dry Marsala wine
1 cup chicken stock, reduced to 1/3 cup
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
To make the fig jam, place sugar and lemon juice in a small pot over medium heat. Stir in figs and zest. Cook until jelled. Can be made ahead.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Wash and dry quail and sprinkle cavities with salt and pepper. Stuff each with 1/2 of a fig pulled from the fig jam. SautM-i bacon in a large frying pan with olive oil until brown. Remove and reserve.
Brown quail in bacon fat with breast side down and then do the same with the other side. Add the shallot, let sauté about 30 seconds and flame with Marsala. (Do this by removing pan from heat, pouring on Marsala, then igniting.) When flames stop, remove quail to a baking dish and bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes or until just cooked through, when meat feels spongy to touch.
Reduce Marsala in the pan to a glaze. Add the reduced chicken stock, thyme and lemon zest. Reduce to a sauce-like consistency. Add the fig jam to the sauce to your taste; bring to a boil and pour over the quail.
