Bluestem

The Cookbook

by Colby Garrelts, Megan Garrelts, Bonjwing Lee

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

“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

“…husband-and-wife team Colby and Megan Garrelts, chefs and owners of Bluestem Restaurant in Kansas City, work in season. They use produce at its flavor peak, and they do their best to use locally sourced ingredients. This ethos is clearly reflected in the way the recipes are organized in the couple’s new book, Bluestem the Cookbook: according to season. There are five total chapters, four for the seasons with the last one – “Essentials” – including recipes for sauces, stocks and finishing agents like flavored butters and bread crumbs that are found dotted throughout recipes in the book.” ––Sauce Magazine http://bit.ly/A0OYF7

“James Beard-nominated chef Colby Garrelts and his wife, pastry chef Megan Garrelts, worked in notable restaurants in Chicago, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles before opening Bluestem in Kansas City, Missouri. Written with lawyer-turned-food writer/photographer Lee (the formerly anonymous gourmand behind the Ulterior Epicure blog, ulteriorepicure.com), the Garreltses’ debut is a beautiful restaurant cookbook that makes it easy for advanced home cooks to construct an upscale, multicourse menu with wine pairings. Each seasonal section is divided into eight courses featuring elegant, contemporary dishes like Nettle Soup, Whipped Lemon Ricotta; Rack of Venison, Pickled Lady Apples; and White Coffee, Passion Fruit Parfait.” –Library Journal

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.

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.

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 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.