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November | December
volume 89
farm to table
Homegrown Chef
Je T’aime Brussels written by Thor Erickson photography by Tambi Lane “DON’T GET LOST this time!” my dad shouted to my sister Heidi and me as he backed our van into the loading dock at the bustling wholesale produce market. The towering stacks of fragrant fruits and vegetables were perfect for hide and seek. “Bonjour!” bellowed a deep voice as we opened the door of the van. “What is you are looking for today?” said Louis with a thick French accent. “Whatever is on special,” Dad said. Louis was one of the many vegetable vendors that dad bought from at the market and had relocated from Paris twenty years earlier. “Your lucky day!” Louis said joyfully. “Brussels sprouts are very special, and I will give a better deal if you buy six cases.” Dad was not one to pass up a good deal. “I’ll take six then,” Dad said, smiling. Heidi and I played a quick game of hide and seek among the stacks in the warehouse. Suddenly we heard Louis’ loud voice singing, “Ooh, ooh, it’s time to goo ooh.” Having not gotten lost, Louis presented us each with a ripe mango. Upon our return to the van, we found we had to sit on cases of Brussels sprouts on our ride back to the restaurant. “Dad, what are you going to make with all these Brussels sprouts?” Heidi asked. “Many things. I can make soup, bake them, stuff them, fry them, pickle them—it’s endless,” he said. We enjoyed our mangoes, while Dad continued to wax on about how he would prepare the daily produce haul. Later, we helped him unload and clean a couple cases. I noticed Heidi was putting some of the sprouts in her pocket. “What are you doing with them?” I asked her. “SHHH,” she whispered loudly. A few days later I noticed my sister’s Barbies were arranged differently. Barbie was holding a Brussels sprout with both hands, gesturing to Ken. “Barbie and Ken are having salad for dinner,” Heidi exclaimed proudly. A true testament to the versatility of Brussels sprouts. This Brussels sprout gratin is a simple and delicious side dish for a holiday gathering, or a weeknight indulgence. 32
1859 OREGON’S MAGAZINE NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2024
Brussels Sprout Gratin SERVES 6 • 8 ounces bacon, cut into ½-inch lardons • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter • 2½ pounds Brussels sprouts, cleaned and split in half • 1 large shallot, thinly sliced • 2 cups heavy cream • ¼ cup fresh lemon juice • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper • 6 ounces Rogue blue cheese Heat bacon and butter over medium-high heat in a large, straight-sided sauté pan. Sauté until deep golden-brown and starting to crisp. Add Brussels sprouts and cook, stirring, until lightly browned. Add sliced shallots and cook, stirring, until softened. Add heavy cream, and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Adjust heat to a low simmer. Cook, stirring frequently, until cream has reduced by about half and has a consistency that coats each sprout. Add fresh lemon juice, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer mixture to a casserole pan and cover with the blue cheese. Adjust oven rack to center position, and preheat oven to 425 degrees. Transfer casserole to oven and bake uncovered until bubbly around the edges and cheese is melted and spotted brown, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.
farm to table
Brussels Sprout Gratin is elevated with the addition of bacon and lemon juice.
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2024
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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 20+ of our favorite presents to give in 2024 written by Jean Chen Smith | illustrations by Allison Bye
The holidays are absolutely my favorite time of the year. Festive decorations along with the hustle and bustle of downtown streets emanate merriment and good cheer. It is a time to celebrate with family and friends as well as reflect upon the past year. For some of us, the best part of the season is choosing a special gift for each person in our lives. If finding an appropriate present they will love has you stumped, check out our more than twenty favorite gifts to give and receive. What makes them extra special is that they are all Oregon businesses!
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2024
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northwest destination
Vancouver Island’s Malahat SkyWalk soars above the forest, giving visitors who make the climb unparalleled views.
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northwest destination
Some Great Heights The soaring Malahat SkyWalk helps connect the present to Vancouver’s Indigenous past written by James Sinks
Malahat SkyWalk
UNFOLDING BELOW, a lush blanket of Vancouver Island rainforest disappears at a rugged shoreline, and then rises again through mist-shrouded hillsides across a narrow bay. Eagles tack in the wind. There is no bustle, except maybe the happy screams of children descending a slide nearby. The bird’s-eye vantage comes courtesy of one of the more ambitious and architecturally stunning ecotourism projects in North America, the circular Malahat SkyWalk, just northwest of Victoria, B.C. Opened in 2021, the centerpiece of the $17 million SkyWalk project is a towering wood-and-steel scaffold that invites you to corkscrew from a Douglas firand-cedar forest upward some ten floors—roughly 800 feet from the ground below—to a 360-degree viewing platform where on clear days you can see as far away as Washington’s Mount Baker. It’s a place that can make you feel simultaneously on top of the world, and humbled by it. Long before the Western expansion, Vancouver Island and the abundant waters of the Pacific were the territory of several Indigenous First Nations. The location of the SkyWalk along the Saanich Inlet once was a tribal trading and gathering place; now, the visitors come from across the world. The attraction is operated in partnership with the Malahat Nation, a Saanich tribe whose ancestral home encompasses the shoreline over which the SkyWalk soars. The SkyWalk was proposed and financed by the developers of the Sea to Sky aerial gondola, a separate project on the British Columbia mainland between Vancouver and Whistler. In addition to the curving ramp to the top of the SkyWalk, the attraction also includes an elevated wood-planked TreeWalk through the forest, along which a local artist has fashioned driftwood likenesses of woodland wildlife including a wolf, heron and cougar. The walk from the welcome center to the top of the tower and back is 1.4 miles. NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2024
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