A Dreamy Cabin Makeover
TRIP PLANNER: PORT ORFORD PG. 80
Oregon Chefs’ Garlic Recipes
A Portland Filmmaker’s Opus
5 S U M M I TS Plan Your Adventure Now
HOW
OREGON SMALL BUSINESSES PIVOTED TO SURVIVE THE PANDEMIC
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March | April
volume 67
farm to table
Homegrown Chef
Warding Off Evil, Blandness written by Thor Erickson photography by Tambi Lane AT THE AGE of 9, after watching the classic, 1931 version of the movie Dracula starring Bela Lugosi, I was terrified that the evil Transylvanian count or some other creep would come into my room, bite my neck and turn me into a blood-drunk maniac. To protect myself, I attached a bulb of garlic to a strand of twine and wore it around my neck while sleeping. It worked, of course. Not only did it keep Bela away, it also prevented anyone from sitting next to me on the school bus the next morning. Aside from vampires, garlic is thought to ward off other things that harm us. It is packed with vitamin C and B6 and minerals such as selenium, calcium and iron. Recent studies show that garlic can help reduce the risk for cardiovascular diseases, tumors and other ills, but scientists add that more studies are needed to understand how to use it in treatments. While researchers are doing that, however, people around the world look to garlic as an essential ingredient in a range of cuisines, as they have done for millennia. When it comes to cooking with garlic at home, I like to use whole garlic bulbs. This adds versatility to what you can do with it. Aside from peeling it, chopping it, marinating meats in it and gently wilting greens in a sauté pan with it, I like to roast the whole bulbs. This roasting transforms the garlic, making it less pungent and creating a deep umamilike flavor and creamy texture. For instant gratification, I like to spread the warm roasted garlic on some crusty bread with a well-aged brie or Camembert cheese. Here is a roasted garlic soup recipe that is sure to make humans happy and vampires sad. 28 1859 OREGON’S MAGAZINE
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Roasted Garlic Soup SERVES 6 • 3 to 4 heads of garlic • 2 tablespoons olive oil • 4 to 8 ounces pancetta, diced • 1 small onion, chopped • 4 cups chicken stock • ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated • 1 cup heavy cream • ½ teaspoon salt • ½ teaspoon black pepper TO ROAST THE GARLIC Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Slice the tops off the garlic heads, just enough to expose the cloves. Drizzle the cloves with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place each bulb cut side up, on a small square of aluminum foil. Fold the foil around the bulb of garlic and place on a cookie sheet. Roast the garlic for 45 minutes. Cool thoroughly. FOR THE GARLIC SOUP In a large pot, cook diced pancetta over medium heat until crispy, about 5 to 7 minutes. Drain off all but 1 tablespoon of pancetta fat. Reserve crispy pancetta in a bowl. Add chopped onion to pancetta drippings in the pan. Sauté onions until they start to caramelize, about 10 minutes. When roasted garlic is cooled, press it out of its skins. Add it to a blender with the chicken stock and cooked onions. Purée the soup until smooth. Return soup to the pot, add Parmesan and cream, and heat until desired temperature. Sprinkle the pancetta evenly atop each bowl of soup and serve.
farm to table Crusty bread and French cheeses complement the roasted garlic flavor of this soup.
MARCH | APRIL 2021
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written by Cathy Carroll
PEAK MOMENTS Five sky-scraping adventures around the state for any fitness level—and a plan for getting ready
LOOK UP. In Oregon, things begin looking up when you are, too. With white peaks scraping our skies, our volcanic landscape calls out with an invitation. Don’t decline, don’t send your regrets. Get ready to shift your perspective by standing atop a peak later this spring or in summer. Simply planning an adventure can make you about as happy as actually doing it. Psychological research bears this out. That’s also the case with setting specific, measurable, attainable goals to get you ready for peak season. Here are five peaks to summit around the state, from easy to difficult, with expert tips on how to prepare.
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MOUNT HOOD
CLIFF AGOCS has spent his life climbing peaks around the world, and one of his favorite mountaineering moments happens when he’s on the south side of Mount Hood. It’s nearing dawn, and he’s been climbing in the dark for about four hours. Nearing the final ascent to the highest point in Oregon, 11,250 feet, the first light gives a faint hint of the rim of a crater above. The sky grows bluer. Agocs turns off his headlamp and turns to look behind him. “The shadow of the mountain, a giant triangular shadow, is cast over the forest and Government Camp,” he said. Or, the shadow might fall on the layer of clouds below him. “It’s a really powerful moment that you’ve never thought about. You don’t know that shadow exists.” Agocs loves sharing the moment when he’s guiding people in the climb, too. “I know it’s coming and I’m about to blow everybody’s minds.” At the summit, the sunrise is glinting off the Columbia River as
the eye sweeps around to Mount Jefferson, north to Mount Rainier, Mount Adams and Mount Saint Helens in Washington, the lights of Portland and Gresham below, and a line of white-capped sentinels, South, Middle and North Sister and Broken Top. “I tell people, ‘I can see my house,’” said Agocs, of Bend. Mount Hood has moderate routes for beginners and Agocs’ Timberline Mountain Guides offers a four-hour training session in using crampons, ice axes and rope-systems before guiding you to the top in the early hours of the next day. The mountain is a good entree to technical climbing, because it’s relatively low considering how steep it is, and it’s easy to access. You can drive to a plowed parking lot at 6,000 feet and sleep in historic Timberline Lodge or another nearby hotel before you set out. “I’ve had kids as young as 13 summit and a man in his early 80s,” said Agocs. “It’s a good place for folks to start that journey of challenging themselves on a technical mountain.”
MARCH | APRIL 2021
WILLAMETTE VALLEY / SUMMIT: 11,250 FT
FROM LEFT Mount Hood is a good entree to technical climbing. Timberline Mountain Guides offers training in using crampons, ice axes and rope-systems before guiding you to the top. Mount Hood summit at sunrise. (photos, from left: Ronald Hope, MtHoodTerritory.com, Ronald Hope)
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MAMA DÚT Owner Thuy Pham’s dishes are vegan recreations of her favorite Vietnamese comfort food from childhood. At the beginning of the pandemic, Pham was working as a hairstylist, but the forced closures made her pivot and focus on another creative outlet: cooking. She started a pop-up serving porkless banh mi sandwiches and báhn cuon chay rice cakes out of her kitchen, and things just took off. In November, she moved to a commercial kitchen on SE Morrison and continued to sell her Vietnamese vegan food with vegan pork belly bao buns and vegan fish sauce wings. Vietnam cuisine was vegan and vegetarian before French colonization, so she often looks to older ways of cooking and pays homage to that. The name, Mama Dút uses the Vietnamese word “dút,” meaning “to feed.” Pham’s daughter would say “Mama dút” when she was hungry. Pham also supports her community with pop-ups within her space, including vegan Filipino pastries by Kumare and special dish collaborations with her neighbor, Plant Based Papi. Hours: Thursday-Saturday, noon-6 p.m.; Sunday, noon-4 p.m. Location: 1414 SE Morrison St., Portland
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