With all the dreadful news we read everyday about the economy, I just want to reassure you that Corti Brothers will be here for the foreseeable future. We had a small problem which began in July of 2008, that has been satisfactorily resolved. Corti Brothers will continue doing what it has done for the past 62 years, but with the security of a lease. Since the problem is resolved, I would like to thank all of our supporters. It really is “all’s well that ends well.”

In our Holiday newsletter, I wrote about the Lemongrass Kitchen yellow curry base. Now two other sauce concentrates are available: Vietnamese Lemongrass Ginger sauce concentrate and Thai green curry sauce concentrate. They are all created by Mai Pham, the Vietnamese born author and chef whose Sacramento restaurant Lemon Grass is renown for having brought true Vietnamese flavor to Sacramento. Having lived in Thailand, Mai is equally at home in that cuisine. These are really sauce bases which need you to add ingredients and coconut milk or water or both, producing at home, restaurant quality dishes, without the fiddly part. These 8 oz jars produce 6 servings per jar and sell for $6.99 each. Following the label instructions, you cannot go wrong in making easy to do, tasty dishes that do not require a lot of kitchen time. But you do have to cook.

Vignalta Sale Alle Erbe is a staple in my kitchen. It is what every piece of meat is treated to before cooking. The combination of Sicilian sea salt and fresh wild herbs (rosemary and thyme predominantly) growing in front of the Vignalta winery in Italy’s Colli Euganei, together with a little fresh garlic and ground pepper are the “erbe”(herbs to us) in the blend. Since the herbs are added fresh to the salt, their aromatic oils, just like the touch of fresh garlic, are preserved in the salt. Other “herbed” salts use dried herbs, thus having much less flavor.

You should try Vignalta Sale alle Erbe. You’ll wonder how you ever got along before without it. It may also become a staple in your kitchen.

Lucio Gomiero, the owner of Vignalta winery in Italy’s Veneto region, precisely, the lovely hilly area to the west of Padova known as the Colli Euganei, also makes wine from California’s Monterey County grapes since he lives there. From a very good vineyard in the still cool climate, but warmer southern end of Monterey County, he has produced a lovely example of Syrah. At a recent tasting, it was the best wine out of a lineup of nine wines, spanning Italy, France, California’s Central Coast, and El Dorado County. As one of the tasters, a young Australian winemaker remarked, “Now, that’s really good Syrah.” And it definitely is.

Not just brawny and muscular, but with finesse and delicacy, it drinks very well right now and will continue to develop for several more years. It is scented, with elegant acid structure and a juiciness of flavor uncommon in this variety in California. With all the syrah planted in California, and all the wines around, the variety risks overexposure, becoming a caricature. VIGNALTA MONTE REY is a wine which is very good, not found all over, and selling at a lovely price. I cannot recommend it too highly.

Alsace One® 2007 is a blend of grapes from the noted Alsatian producer Pierre Spaar. In the old days, this wine would have been labeled Edelzwicker, since it is a blend of noble varieties, sylvaner, muscat, riesling, pinot blanc and klevener de Heiligenstein (savagnin rose). A dry wine, it will keep 2-3 years, but right now it is perfect drinking. The balance is perfect, not overpoweringly aromatic, but with a floral scent. Its balance and body make it a summer delight. If you are looking for a charming table companion for late spring, summer, and beyond enjoyment, this is it. Unoaked, Alsace One is wonderfully quaffable and worth every penny.

In today’s economy everyone is trying to stretch dollars. One way to do this is to begin cooking from scratch or almost from scratch. Sometimes, this means having to think more than one meal ahead. Beans fill this bill very nicely: they can be cooked ahead, reheated or other wise used at different times. A bowl of cooked beans in the “fridge” can solve a lot of problems with menu planning. One is serving them with tuna, extra virgin oil and chopped parsley, and presto, a simple, tasty and nourishing first course or even main course.

The beans: Caponi di Sartocchio; the tuna: Consorcio. I have written about both of these products previously, now you just have to take to heart what I’ve said, buy some and use them together. But then, with the Consorcio tuna, you can make some delicious dishes with it using staples already found in your kitchen or from this newsletter.

Caponi di Sartocchio is a cultivar of white kidney or cannellini beans. Corti Brothers buys them from a grower in Pescadero, California, whose father brought the original beans from his home village, Saltocchio, just outside of Lucca. (The linguistic phenomenon of the name is another story.) Due to their larger size and thinner skin, Caponi di Sartocchio are not like normal cannellini beans. Caponi cook easily and quickly. Cook them with gentle heat, and just don’t overcook them.

Consorcio Filetti di Bonito del Norte (Thunnus alalunga) are light pink-white color, firm, slender rectangles of outstanding flavor. More expensive than other tuna, they go further due to their remarkable flavor intensity. These are what a really good pasta and a flavorful white sauce need to make that frugality dish,”tuna casserole” so well beloved by Americans. This is simple cooking and easy to do while unwinding from a busy day, having a glass of wine, and preparing dinner. If you know how to boil water, turn on the oven, and use some imagination, dinner can be ready in 30 minutes. If you don’t and can’t, then make reservations.

Pescadero Caponi Di Sartocchio Beans $9.98 2 pound bag (#2256)

Grown by Dickson Ranch in the southern end of Napa Valley, Regina Taggiasca oil is one of the very few oils produced in California from this cultivar. The Dicksons, who own the property, accompanied me on an oil trip to Italy several years ago and fell in love with the soft Riviera style oil and planted Taggiasca on their property. Regina is very different, yet similar to Riviera oil. Recently it was tasted by a noted Italian expert, who was surprised to find it a medium fruity intensity oil rather than the light intensity of its home. This is due to the fact that in southern Napa Valley the fruit can be harvested slightly under ripe, whereas in Italy the fruit is allowed to fall dead ripe into nets for collection. The mild flavor and light pungency of the cultivar comes through. This is a delicious, light medium fruit intensity oil which is perfect for those looking for delicacy and not power in extra virgin oil.

But sherry vinegar comes in two forms: normal and the reserva. For several years, we have bought from the historic firm of Garvey, Garvey Reserva Sherry Vinegar and it is a wonderful product. This is a dry vinegar with age to it. (Another form produced is flavored and sweetened with Pedro Ximenez wine, the sweet blending wine of sherry, to make a style similar to aceto balsamico.) But if you already have aceto balsamico, what you need is a forceful, flavorful, aged dry vinegar without sweetness. (Here it is like wine: we talk dry and drink sweet.) Garvey Reserva vinegar is dry, and intense. You need to use less, making the bottle go further. Softening the vinegar merely means you add a bit of water, lemon juice or dry white wine to the amount used in a salad. It is up to your taste. But the vinegar should give you this opportunity to arrange its taste to yours. With tomato salads and for gazpacho, Garvey Reserva vinegar is required.

The original Sacramento Cookie is a round wafer cookie made in Sacramento. It is a 7 inch diameter, thin, filled wafer which originated in the Czech Republic’s famed spa town of Carlsbad or Karlóvy Váry. First created in 1856 as a spa souvenir, these wafer cookies or “oplatky” became famous throughout Europe as Karlsbader Oblaten. Even Montecatini, the famous Italian spa town produces its own version.

In 1996, Jiri Knedlik, a Czech refugee in Sacramento began producing “oplatky” as the Sacramento Cookie. Now, 13 years later, the line has grown to include five other versions, the most recent the Tea Wafer and Java Wafer. All of these wafer cookies are made with the same traditional technique of first baking the wafer part on a wafer iron, letting the wafer rest for about 12 days, filling it with the various fillings, then pressing it in another iron which embosses the mountain range design with vine leaf border on the wafer.

Crisp, crunchy and not overly sweet, the range of wafers sell for $6.99 the 7 oz. box, containing 8 wafers They include:

Sacramento Wafer, with a hazelnut, cinnamon, vanilla filling (#2264)

California Wine Wafer, lemon and vanilla (#2265)

California Wine Wafer, with mocha chocolate (#2266)

Champagne Wafer, raspberry flavor with ground almonds (#2267)

Java Wafer, roasted hazelnuts, cinnamon, espresso coffee beans, and cocoa (#2268)

Tea Wafer, roasted almonds, vanilla, and lemon (#2269)

We have put together a mixed case of 12 boxes, two of each kind, at $75.00/ cs (#2270)

The taggiasca olive cultivar takes its name from the Taggia valley on Italy’s western Riviera. Brought by Benedictine monks, who created the terraces where these trees are cultivated, it is a form of the frantoio variety, which has adapted itself to the area and taken on its name. Taggiasca olives are small. Very flavorful, they need a long time–about a year–to cure for making into olive paste or eating.

Since 1980, Corti Brothers has offered the taggiasca based oil and olives from ARDOINO. Packed in brine, these ripe taggiasca olives are wonderful for eating directly. Their hauntingly delicate smokey flavor makes them very more-ish. The only trouble is their size. Here it is true that very good things come in small sizes. They are also wonderful for putting in stews at the end of cooking. They just need to added and warmed, not cooked. If you haven’t tried Taggiasca olives before, you should now. (By the way, Taggiasche is just the plural spelling of Taggiasca.)

Spring is here and summer coming. Pasta, whether just from semolina and water or enriched with eggs, makes a very tasty, inexpensive and always appreciated part of a meal or a single dish one. Sauces are left to your imagination, the simplest, sauteed garlic with a bit of red pepper in good olive oil, poured over cooked pasta. Pesto made from fresh basil requires a little effort, but stores well and lends a fragrant, green color to pasta. Here are some unusual cuts and types which should improve your repertoire.

From Liguria: Alta Valle Scrivia: Simply made, only flour and water, typical of Ligurian cuisine.

From Campania: Mastri Pastai: Semolina and water in the Neapolitan tradition

From Puglia: Pastificio Marella: Semolina and water in traditional Pugliese style.

Pastificio Marella Fricelli Pasta: traditional “fusilli” 2 inches long, in a rolled tube shape the thickness of a straw; dressed with a ragù of either lamb or pork, sometimes vegetables. Arab origin from “bus,” a cane to roll the dough $7.49 500g (#2276)

Ivana Maroni Strozzapreti All’uovo Pasta: “priest stranglers,” a name dating to the 1700s. A rich yellow from egg yolks, 2 inches long in a twisted ‘S’ shape. Use a rich sauce and lots of grated cheese. $6.99 8.75 oz (#2277)

Here is a true monastic product made in Sonoma County by the Cistercian nuns of Redwoods Monastery. The sisters cream raw, grade A honey and add organic ginger, orange or lemon to the honey to give a range of flavors. Creamed honey is finely granulated honey that has had carefully controlled crystallization. Much smoother than naturally granulated honey, its texture is that of soft butter.

All honey can be creamed; but a honey, light in color and flavor, yet high in glucose, makes the best creamed honey. The simple granulation heating process also produces a thin layer of air bubbles which remain on the honey surface, looking like, and called, “frosting.” This is honey for putting on morning toast, scones, sandwiches and the like and not having to worry about its dripping. Monastery Creamed Honeys, all natural and organic, give breakfast another dimension.

In Athenaeus’ The Diepnosophists, one of the earliest Greek fine living texts, the author remarks about “Persian luxury and extravagance.” Persian cuisine is not something we think about much in this country, but there is a great deal of tradition and exchange throughout the eastern Mediterranean that owes a lot to this ancient cuisine. Persia is the historical name for what we now call Iran.

An Iranian couple living in Sacramento, Sima and Deen Rashidy, produce traditional pickles, relishes, and jams–really spoon fruits–from local produce. All are extremely good and unusual. Under SIMA’S label, there are both sweet and sour products and also three rice mixtures. The pickled vegetables are called TORSHI, meaning “pickled or sour,” very much like Italian giardinera. LITTEH, meaning “chopped up” as in “relish” is a pickled, finely chopped vegetable relish. Both torshi and litteh are served with cooked meats or as appetizers. These make excellent accompaniments to grilled meats of every kind. A new product is pickled garlic made from high sugar forming garlic which increases garlic flavor.

The jams, all made with local fruit have as their first ingredient the fruit from which it is made, not sugar as most jams are confected. The only jam not made from local fruit is the Tabriz rose petal jam, made from dried Tabriz rose petals from Iran. These jams can be used in various ways like normal jams, but are wonderful on plain yoghurt, cottage cheese, fromage blanc, and cream cheese. They really should be eaten with a spoon, hence, spoon fruit. They all sell for $5.99 12 oz jar.

Sima also developed three rice dishes made with Basmati rice and Iranian saffron. These come in 10 oz bags, yielding 4 servings each; all one does is follow the simple directions on how to prepare. Two are completely vegetarian, one is not. Called “polo,” these are the Persian answer to cup o’ noodles. This is again simple cooking, but still cooking. You have to prepare the dish. They sell for $4.39 per 10 oz bag.

Mid February, I spent a week in Tokyo and a week in Hong Kong. My visit to Tokyo was to look for some new products for Corti Brothers in that land of never ending surprises. The Hong Kong visit was to find new teas from our tea merchant, Wing-chi Ip, at Lock Cha Tea. Every evening, I would write down the happenings of the day, so that I would not forget them and think that some of you might enjoy reading some of these ruminations. Places in caps and bold print are very highly recommended. Others are places visited.

In TOKYO, I was impressed by two restaurants: SUSHI KEI and YAMAJI. SUSHI KEI is owned by Toshiichi Tsurimaki, who is a great fan of wine, a sometime customer of Corti Brothers. He has a lovely California red wine list in his restaurant. Simply elegant, Toshi-san’s location is B-1 Toranomon Tashikawa Bldg., 1-6-5 Nishi-Shimbashi, Minato-ku Tokyo 105-0003. Telephone and fax 81-03-3506-1222. Toshi-san served me a 2 months old Narezushi, a dish I had never experienced before. A condiment, yuzu-kosho, aged for two years, was another first. He selects special sake for service with his dishes and the guest selects the sake cup or “guinomi” from the display boxes offered of them. Some were actually made by Toshi-san as an art student at Chico State University, north of Sacramento.

YAMAJI has been given one star in the 2009 Guide Michelin for Tokyo. I was first brought to this tiny, basement restaurant by Masakazu Koizumi in 2008. At that time another guest was Cecilia Chiang, former owner of the Mandarin restaurant in San Francisco and also a sometime restaurateur in Tokyo. Cecilia remarked that she had never eaten such exceptional Japanese cooking before. This year with the one star, Yamaji has only improved. You should go with someone who speaks Japanese, since English is understood, but not spoken. It is a “kappo” style restaurant with seating at the blond wood counter. This is a place to go in small numbers since it is tiny. Yamaji-san makes his own karasumi, cured mullet roe like Italian bottarga. Address: Ginza 7 Bldg., B1F, 7-14-14 Ginza, Chuo-ku. Tel: (03) 5565-3639 and
Fax: (03) 5565-1947.

KANDA, Michelin *** 3-6-34 Moto Azabu, Minato-ku Tel./Fax (03) 5786-0150. Try Yamaji first.

OFFICINA da ENRICO, Enrico Derflingher, chef, 3F Current Omotesando, 4-26-21 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku
tel: (03) 3401-7262 Fax: (03) 6804-8713 Exceptional Italian cuisine from an inventive chef and team.

TOFUYA UKAI SHIBA (Ryotei) 4-4-13 Shiba-Koen, Minato-ku, Tel: (03) 3436-1028 Fax: (03) 3436-1029
Part of the Ukai chain of restaurants, located in a lovely garden, just beneath Tokyo Tower. Seasonal set menu. Dengaku, quail balls in dashi, yu-dofu in seasoned soy milk. Tofu, in all its variety, is the specialty. Michelin *.

TOKYO MIDTOWN: Site of the Ritz Carlton, Dean & Deluca, Suntory Museum, Toraya. Worth seeing.

If you want to see the products of each Japanese prefecture, visit their “antenna” shops in Tokyo. A true treat.

In HONG KONG, I stayed at the LANDMARK MANDARIN ORIENTAL, in the Landmark Building. At the 3rd floor entrance to the Mandarin Oriental, there is the new KAVIAR KASPIA restaurant. This is the Parisian caviar shop with a selection of excellent caviar; payusnaya from the Gironde. Excellent fresh blini with pretty patterns on them.

CRYSTAL JADE, Finance Center Bldg, Wonderful dumplings and the like. Cantonese fast food.

LUNG KING HEEN, Michelin***, Four Seasons Hotel 4F, 8 Finance Street, Central, Tel: 3196-8880 Lovely setting.

AMBER, Michelin**,Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Richard Ekkebus, chef, 7 F, 15 Queen’s Road, Central, Tel: 852 21 32 1088. Striking decor and French cuisine. Also the breakfast room for Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

CHI LIN NUNNERY and NAN LIAN GARDEN, 60 Fung Tak Road, Diamond Hill, Kowloon; park and nunnery. Exceptionally good vegetarian restaurant in Nan Lian Garden, CHI LIN VEGETARIAN. Set menus or à la carte .

LOCK CHA TEA HOUSE, G/F Tea Wares Museum, K.S.Lo Gallery, Hong Kong Park, Admiralty, (852) 2801 7177 All the teas from Lock Cha Tea company available with vegetarian dim sum, served all day, prepared at Chi Lin nunnery and cooked in teahouse kitchen. A very nice break from what could be sensory overload in HK. A very easy walk from Pacific Place Center.

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