Book Information: Bluestem
Bluestem
The Cookbook
2012 James Beard Best Chef Midwest Award Finalist
Price: $45.00
ISBN-13: 9781449400613
ISBN-10: 1449400612
Format: Hardcover
Size: 9 x 10 in.
Page Count: 312 pages
Bluestem Reviews
“Writing a book of recipes that brings the magic of a restaurant experience into the home kitchen takes not only a great chef but one with the ability to look at his or her recipes through the eyes of a home cook. Kansas City chefs Colby Garrelts and Megan Garrelts have written one of those rare restaurant cookbooks, Bluestem. It’s a beautiful book of recipes adapted from their seasonal Midwestern menu, illustrated with show stopping photographs from Bonjwing Lee a.k.a. The Ulterior Epicure. The dishes in Bluestem look and taste like fine dining but are written in a way that’s infinitely doable, no immersion circulator necessary, just good ingredients and the desire to put together some very pretty (and tasty) plates.” ––Serious Eats http://bit.ly/zTpMhH
“The Bluestem cookbook released by Andrews McMeel Publishing distills years of food passion and experience into a single volume. This is graceful food, the favors are sharp and clear such as in the nettle soup with whipped lemon ricotta that begins the book. It is divided by season and structured around the idea that one should eat within season as much as possible celebrating fresh fruits and vegetables. Each season’s menu is broken up by type of food and also includes wine pairing suggestions. The book also contains beautifully photographed profiles of local purveyors from farmers to butchers, driving home the message that good food is local, small and slow.” ––Pursuitist http://bit.ly/zkzCs0
Bluestem Dinner at Niche, St. Louis
Friday, January 20, 6:00 or 8:30 p.m.
Niche
1831 Sidney St.
St. Louis, MO 63104
314-773-7755
http://nichestlouis.com/
In celebration of the release of their new cookbook, Bluestem: The Cookbook, Bluestem’s Colby and Megan Garrelts are collaborating on a five-course dinner with Niche’s Gerard Craft (a fellow James Beard Award nominee) on Friday, January 20.
The first course is a hamachi crudo with scallions, hon shimeji and dashi vinaigrette. The second course is crispy sweetbreads with roasted radicchio, pickled apple, buttermilk and bourbon pecan molasses. The next course features a pancetta poached cod with whipped carrots in a caramelized parsnip broth. Hungry, yet?
The penultimate course is a Kansas City strip and short rib with puffed barley, Thane Palmberg kale, Mienke grits, pumpernickel and horseradish, while the dessert course is a graham-cracker pound cake with hot-chocolate poached pears and tangerine sherbet, and petit fours.
The dinner has seatings at 6 and 8:30 p.m and is $115 per person, not including tax and gratuity. The evening includes a signed copy of the Bluestem cookbook. A wine pairing is available for an additional $35. Call Niche at 314-773-7755 to make a reservation.
Beets, Whipped Blue Cheese, Candied Pecans
—From Bluestem: The Cookbook/Andrews McMeel Publishing
Serves 4
I can’t keep Megan away from beets when the gem-like baby ones roll in. Lucky for her, beets are readily available year-round in the Midwest. Although this salad can take on one of many variations, we strip it down to its bare essentials, focusing on the beets, whose sweetness seems intensified against the salty whipped blue cheese that we pair with it. Candied pecans give the salad some needed snap, and a few tendrils of baby frisée lettuce frame it all nicely with a frilly border.
This salad is particularly pretty if you use different-colored beets. Just make sure you keep them separated before arranging them on plates so they don’t stain each other.
1 pound baby beets, trimmed of greens
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 ounces blue cheese, softened
¼ cup Champagne Vinaigrette (page 253)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
⅓ cup Candied Pecans, chopped (page 254)
Baby frisée, for garnish (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Tightly seal the beets, whole, in a large sheet of aluminum foil. If you are using different-colored beats, package the beets separately by color so that the red ones won’t stain the lighter-colored ones.
Bake the beets for 40 minutes. To test the beets for doneness, a knife should slip in and out of them without any effort. Let the beets cool. Peel the thin layer of skin from each beet. Cut the beets into quarters. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip the cream cheese on high speed until soft and fluffy, stopping to scrape the bowl as needed. Add the blue cheese and continue to whip, scraping the bowl as
needed, until the two cheeses are evenly mixed and fluffy. Season with salt and pepper and whip a little more to incorporate.
Toss the beets with the vinaigrette. If you are using different-colored beets, toss them separately by color to prevent them from staining each other. Divide the beets among 4 plates.
Transfer the whipped cheese to a pastry bag and pipe the cheese in small mounds around the beets. Or you can simply spoon the cheese onto the plates. Garnish each salad with some pecans and frisée. Serve immediately.
Poached Braeburn Apples, Hot Buttered Cider Rum, Brown Butter–Pecan Ice Cream
—From Bluestem: The Cookbook/Andrews McMeel Publishing
Serves 4
As a kid, I loved going apple picking in the fall. There was always the promise of cider to be drunk and pies and fritters to be made and eaten afterward. I have distilled my childhood orchard memories into this comforting dessert, which is best served the day it is made.
The spices in the cider can and should be adjusted to your taste. The cider will perfume your house with a warm scent as your guests arrive for dinner.
2 quarts apple cider
1 cup light rum (we use 10 Cane rum)
½ cup sugar
6 cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
Zest of 1 orange, peeled with a Y-peeler
1 large piece crystallized ginger, chopped into small pieces
4 Braeburn apples, peeled, quartered, and cored
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter
Brown Butter–Pecan Ice Cream (page 266)
Pecans, toasted and chopped, for garnish
Bring the cider, rum, sugar, cloves, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, zest, and ginger to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat. Turn the heat down to low and add the apples. Bring the liquid to a low simmer and poach the apples for 20 minutes, or until the apples become tender but not soft or mushy.
Remove the apples with a slotted spoon and set them on a plate to drain. Cover and keep the apples warm while you let the cider steep for 10 minutes.
Strain the cider through a fine-mesh sieve. Discard the cinnamon sticks, orange peel, ginger, and cloves. Cover the cider and keep warm until ready to serve.
Divide the apple halves among 4 bowls. Vigorously whisk the butter into the cider. Pour the warm buttered cider over the apples and top each with a scoop of the ice cream. Garnish each bowl with chopped pecans and serve immediately. Extra cider can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Bluestem Chefs Present Love in all Different Flavors
Now the contemporary taste and signature dishes Bluestem restaurant in Kansas City, MO, is known for can be created in home kitchens everywhere. Chefs and owners Colby and Megan Garrelts team up with food writer and photographer Bonjwing Lee to share their culinary techniques inside Bluestem: The Cookbook.
Bluestem is divided into four seasonal sections, each including recipes for amuse-bouche, cold appetizers, hot appetizers, pasta dishes, dishes from the sea, dishes from the land, and of course desserts. Every recipe showcases local, Midwestern ingredients and artisanal producers, which are also profiled in the book.
Bluestem features more than 100 contemporary American cuisine recipes that demonstrate that fine dining can be playful and, with a bit of care and dedication, doable in the home kitchen. Lee’s full-color photographs capture the simple beauty of Bluestem’s composed dishes.
Helpful tips straight from the Bluestem kitchen alongside seasonal wine notes allow for cooks of all experience levels to replicate dishes such as Nettle Soup with Whipped Lemon Ricotta; Smoked Salmon Panna Cotta; Pork Tenderloin with Piquillo Peppers and Fingerling Potatoes; and Stone Fruit Cobbler.
About Colby and Megan Garrelts
Colby and Megan Garrelts met in the kitchen of Chicago’s TRU, where they worked for chefs Rick Tramonto and Gale Gand. After working in kitchens in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, the couple returned to Colby’s hometown of Kansas City to open Bluestem, a fine dining restaurant. Bluestem has garnered both local and national acclaim due in part to Colby’s multiple James Beard nominations. The Garreltses live in Leawood, KS, with their children and furry dependents.
