A blog I love and have just recently discovered, Chez Loulou, hosts a wonderful event called “La Fête du Fromage” and I am super happy to participate in this one. This is the ninth one and although I didn’t post in the eight previous ones, I was certainly there in spirit. At least I hope I am participating in this one, as posts are due today and I have no idea how the Portland to France time difference thing is going to play out. *fingers crossed*

Anyway, the cheese I chose is Robusto, which is one of my most favorite cheeses ever. It was a happy accident — I was walking around the Whole Foods by work about a year ago and they had some Robusto pieces out to sample and I tried one (two. okay, four.). Oh my god, I loved the cheese! It’s kind of sharp and mild all at the same time. Kind of like if Gouda and Parmesan had a tasty, delicious love child.

The texture is a little hard, with a little crystallization like you can get on Parmesan, but the interior yields nicely to a knife. Today, I had a slice on its own but then I remembered that I had made walnut bread the other day, so I put a few slices of the robusto on a some of the bread. Oh my. So good with the walnuts and the creamy-sharp cheese!

I had my cheese and bread snack with a glass (okay, two) of chilled Columbia Crest Sauvignon Blanc from Washington state. The wine was very nice and crisp! But back to the robusto — I love this cheese so much. It has a somewhat nutty flavor and the Internets tell me that it is from Holland and aged about 9 months. If you can find it, I would definitely recommend picking up some robusto cheese!

Okay, so I’m looking forward to reading about all the other cheeses on Chez Loulou for La Fête du Fromage. But really, I think every day should be a day of cheese. Seriously.

Okay, this is where I try to reverse-engineer a meal from out at a restaurant. How did I do? Pretty well! This is from wonderful meal that we had at the Aquarius restaurant in Santa Cruz last month, with jwa’s parents.

That amazingly tasty dish: California white bass with udon noodles, lychee glaze and miso-truffle broth. So, yeah, mine was similiar, but a little different. Swapped bass for halibut, guava for lychee, no truffles in broth and added veggies! I basically used the flavorings for the broth that I’ve used before making a miso soup (ginger, garlic, soy sauce, mirin). It worked well here.

Oh, I loved this. I want to make it again. I’d say the glaze is probably optional, and when I make it again, I might just skip it, but it was fun to try and come up with a replacement for the lychee glaze. Doesn’t even need it though, imho.

There are a lot of steps, but stuff is do-able ahead of time. You could easily make the glaze and the miso broth earlier in the day or even a day before.

Halibut with Carrot-Shiitake-Miso Broth & Udon Noodles
1/2 cup guava juice
1 tbsp jalapeno jello ha! jelly
10-12 shiitake mushrooms, stem removed & sliced
2 tbsp olive or peanut oil
3 cups chicken broth
2.5 tbsp white miso
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup finely grated carrot (I used a micro plane grater)
3/4 pound halibut halibut, cut into 2 pieces (two 6 oz pieces)
salt & pepper
cooked udon noodles (enough for 2 servings)
toasted sesame oil
chopped, fresh cilantro, sesame seeds for garish

Make the glaze - combine the guava juice and jalapeno jelly in a small pan and bring to a boil. Reduce until you have about 2 -3 tablespoons of glaze and it is all thick and syrupy. Remove from heat and cool.

Heat a pan over medium heat and add 1 tbsp of the oil. Add the mushrooms and saute until soft and getting a little color, 7-9 minutes. Set aside.

In a sauce pan, add the broth, miso, mirin, garlic, ginger and soy sauce. Whisk to combine and simmer until the miso dissolves and flavors start to meld, 10 or so minutes. Add the cooked mushrooms, grated carrots and green onions. Keep warm.

Cook the udon noodles in boiling, salted water. When done, drain and toss with a little sesame oil. Keep warm. I had mine in a bowl and covered with foil. I used frozen udon noodles, but you could also used dried.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Salt and pepper the halibut and then slather the glaze on the flesh side. Heat a pan over medium-high heat and add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add the fish, skin side down, glaze-side up.

Cook for about 4-5 minutes, getting the skin nicely crisp. Then, move to the oven and roast for 5-7 minutes, until the fish is cooked through. While the fish is in the oven, rewarm the miso broth of needed.

Put it all together:

Divide the udon noodles between two bowls. Ladle in the broth and top with a piece of the halibut. Garnish with some sesame seeds and chopped cilantro leaves.

So good! I always forget how much I love miso in things! Must use more miso…

This is the time of year, before the HUGE fall cooking season, when I’m always in a bit of a posting slump. This means it’s a perfect time to post pictures of a meal out!

Nehalam River Inn
34910 Highway 53
Nehalem, OR 97131

We finally (finally!) went to the Nehalem River Inn for dinner. The occasion? To celebrate jwa’s 38th birthday! We had a very nice meal and, although we didn’t stay there (they had a 2-night minimum, even on a Sunday night), we found a very nice room at the Wheeler on the Bay Lodge & Marina which was about a mile away.

The Garden Room at the Lodge

But first, back to the food.

We got there a few minutes early for our reservation (we were hungry!) but got seated right away. After perusing the menu for a few minutes, we had a plan. To start, I had the Arugula Salad with Israeli Couscous, Currants, Pepitas, Cherry Tomatoes and Tarragon Aioli. It was very good!

For his first course, jwa decided to have a tasting of both the White Corn Soup with Truffle Oil and the Heirloom Tomato Salad with Organic Greens, Fresh Mozzarella, Chopped Marcona Almonds and Basil Pesto. See, this way, he could get two things, as the ‘tasting’ sizes of the first courses were a bit smaller.

Salad

Soup

For my main dish, I got duck. I get duck a lot when we go out, because I hardly ever cook it at home. Mmmm duck! In this case, it was Roasted Muscovy Duck Breast with Polenta Cake, Haricot Vert, and Pomegranate Sauce. Delicious!

And, because it was his birthday, jwa got steak. But not just any steak — Filet Mignon with Truffled Potato Gratin, Swiss Chard, Hon Shimeji Mushrooms and Balsamic Reduction. Wow, it was so good. An amazing crust on the steak.

We finished with desserts — he got an apricot brioche bread pudding and I got a flourless chocolate cake with strawberries and pecans.

Bread Pudding

Chocolate Cake

The restaurant’s back porch, after dinner

After dinner, we went back to our room in Wheeler, were the lodge cat Zoro was entertaining himself outside our room. jwa spent a bit of time playing with the cat.

Assorted Images from the Next Day and the Drive Home

Apple tree growing along the river bank.

Our room had a balcony that had a great view of the river.

Deck at the Lodge

Oswald State Park Beach, off 101. Lots of surfers…(although, not in this picture…)

Why do all trips to the coast begin or end with Pacific Way Cafe? Oh yeah, because we love it there! We stopped and had lunch on the way home. I forgot to take any pictures of the food…

Bad cats at home. I don’t know what they did while we we’re gone, but I am sure they did something.