SEA30_coverTORIIMORMGBW_PRESS_PDX24 11/24/14 8:58 AM Page 1 Portrait Portrait HOME GARDEN TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE TM MAGAZINE ™ MAGAZINE Volume 30 Volume Portrait TM S ET T HE M OOD featuring HOME GARDEN TRAVEL + LIFESTYLE OUR FALL 2014 COLLECTION HUNTING THE GREAT Oregon Truffle CHEFS FAVORITE RECIPES Dundee Hills WINES Tasting notes for 50 current releases PortraitMagazine.com 1106 West Burnside Street / Corner of W. Burnside and SW 11 Ave. / 503.972.5000 Complimentary Parking Validation at PMC (12th and Couch) / www.mgbwhome.com Exclusive Interview Great Finds! Classic Updates Featuring: BARDOT SOFA in boulevard-café, JAMES CHAIR in billiard-gargoyle, MELROSE RECTANGLE COCKTAIL TABLE, Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams The Latest in Home Decor Inspired Design + Remodels MELROSE SIDE TABLE, LOG PULL-UP TABLE in silver leaf, DELANO LAMP, ASTON MIRROR in smoked glass, SHIMMER RUG ANGLED CONE VASE CLEAR GLASS BALLS in parchment, in smoke mirror glass, in assorted sizes and styles $5.95 US IN THE HEART OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST WINTER, WHEN THE SKY IS PAINTED HUNTING OYSTER GREY, THERE IS GOOD REASON TO VENTURE OUTSIDE AND BRAVE THE GREAT THE WINDSWEPT RAIN. HIDDEN BENEATH THE FERTILE SOILS OF THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY, YOU CAN DISCOVER ONE OF OREGON’S BEST KEPT CULINARY RICHES OregonTruffle WRITTEN BY Kerry Newberry PHOTOGRAPHED BY Greg Kozawa TRUFFLE DOGS Private truffle forays “Infectious isn’t it?” muses Paley, who, like ENTER YOUR DOG IN THE Czarnecki is eager to unearth culinary gold Lulu locates a JORIAD™ truffle with handler this morning. Michael Baines of Amateur truffle hunting ( Umami Truffle Dogs. ) Chefs prize these jewels of the forest for dogs are invited to their umami essence, and ancient lore pro- compete in the first annual JORIAD™ claims this earthy fungus an aphrodisiac. North American Truffle “They can, on certain occasions, make Dog Championship at the women more tender and men more lov- Oregon Truffle Festival, Jan 21-22, 2015. able,” wrote Alexandre Dumas. To see if your dog Small but precious, truffles are spore-bear- qualifies to enter the Joriad™ go to: ing fungi that live their entire lives under- ground. Animals such as grey squirrels and oregontrufflefestival.com chipmunks dig up and eat the truffles, TRUFFLE DOG serving as the main dispensers of its TRAINING AT OTF spores. Oregon truffles develop in symbio- Most dogs can be sis with trees, and grow throughout the trained to hunt truffles. Northwest in low-elevation Douglas fir In fact “K9 nosework” (scent training) classes forests, from northern California to south- are sweeping the coun- ern British Columbia. The fungi thrive in try as a new sporting event and truffles are semi-cultivated environments, places like just one example of what this. Tidy tree trunks surround us, reaching a dog might be trained to up to the sky as straight as arrows. A grow- hunt. The Oregon Truffle Festival truffle dog train- ing pattern indicating this forest was once ing seminar, Jan 23-24 a Christmas tree farm. “It was intentionally starts in the classroom, includes introductory planted and that’s the environment that training for both you the truffles like,” says Czarnecki. and your dog, and ends IT’S LATE AUTUMN, and we are on the hunt for on a hunt for wild Of the 30 Northwest truffle species, only culinary gold—Oregon truffles. Elusive. Beguiling. Fleeting. Oregon truffles in their three are harvested for culinary use—two natural habitat. Just a few of the terms used to describe the captivating whites and a black. We are in pursuit of mushrooms, coveted for their umami essence. Umami A Eugene-based company, Umami Truffle Dogs offers private forays hunting the winter white (Tuber oregonense). At its Oregon truffles during peak season (late November through May) in the The morning begins chasing Christopher Czarnecki, a peak, the white truffle carries aromas of Truffle Dogs forest foothills of the Cascade Range and on private properties between fourth-generation chef and restaurateur from the Joel earth, herbs, garlic, and an almost petrol- McMinnville and Eugene. Forays for up to 8 people range from two to four Palmer House in Dayton. Past sleepy, bucolic towns of the like note. The provocative fragrance is just hours per outing. The best part, participants not only learn the art and Willamette Valley, up gravel-strewn roads into the forested science of truffle hunting, they also share in the finds of the day. Umami “The first sign I’m looking for is animal activity,” says part of the allure. As British author Elisa- hills above the Valley we follow his license plate, which Truffle Dogs is the Pacific Northwest’s largest harvester and purveyor of Czarnecki. We scan the damp earth for holes around the beth Luard writes in her book Truffles, part reads: Fungi. He leads us to a private Douglas fir forest, canine-detected Oregon truffles, catering to chefs and customers around base of a tree, where scurrying moles, voles or squirrels of the magic of the mushroom is how it draped in a garland of wispy fog. I find myself standing at the country. Learn more at: umamitruffledogs.com stash the coveted edible riches. He pauses, “something was evades us: “Let me put the case for treas- the edge of the forest with Vitaly Paley, the chef-owner of definitely just digging right here.” The chef leans forward uring the truffle. Leaving aside culinary Paley’s Place and Imperial Restaurant in Portland and one and lightly scratches the duff from under a Douglas fir tree considerations, the truffle is not just a fra- of the pioneers of farm-to-table dining in the Pacific North- WHAT’S OUT THERE? with a four-prong garden rake. With the softest touch, grance, a flavor, a face—though all these west. Today is the first truffle foray for us both, so we listen Happy Foragers chocolate earth crumbles toward our rubber boots. things contribute to its allure—it’s a nugget POPULAR for tips, and zip up raingear before venturing into the OREGON TRUFFLES of vegetable matter searching, as must all Unlike the formal European Tolkien-like terrain. living things, for a niche in which it can Oregon Black truffle forays, Oregon truffle Leucangium carthusianum hunting frequently requires The three of us stalk across ochre pine needles and over thrive. And its niche is remarkably specific. layered rain gear, sturdy TOP LEFT Truffles thrive in anthropogenic habitats, or human created habitats. Oregon Brown moss-drenched tree roots. We are deep in a Douglas fir for- Let one thing fall out of line, and the whole boots and waterproof garden- Pictured here, a former Christmas tree farm populated with 15-25 year-old Kalapuya brunnea ing gloves for digging in the est where the air is soaked with the scent of pine. A wispy enterprise falters and fails.” rich forest soils. Matt Haskins Douglas fir trees—exactly where truffles like to grow. TOP RIGHT Christopher Oregon Winter White and Kate Duke of Atlanta, fog garlands the evergreens, adding mystique to our hunt Czarnecki and Vitaly Paley lightly raking the fir-duff. BOTTOM Czarnecki of the Taking her words to heart, we change di- Tuber oregonense Georgia came to Oregon in Joel Palmer House says the amount of mud you leave the forest covered in is the dead of winter solely for a for buried treasure. rection in the Tolkien-like terrain, skating Oregon Spring White an indicator of how successful a day you’ve had truffle hunting. Tuber gibbosum “truffles, wine and food tour”. 110 PortraitMagazine.com PortraitMagazine.com 111 SAUCE 1/4 onion, sliced thin across moss and fallen leaves to cover new ground. 1T dry white wine Standing about ten feet apart, we each cast our rake CHRISTOPHER 1t lemon juice CZARNECKI across a bed of fir needles, and pray for mushrooms. 1c heavy cream Angel Hair Pasta with “Sometimes you find them right away,” says Czarnecki, A fourth generation chef and Ground white pepper, cayenne restaurateur, Christopher Czar- “other times they make you really look for them.” If and salt necki is the executive chef at you find one truffle near a tree, you’ll usually find Maine Lobster Truffle Sauce Fresh truffles or 2T truffle butter the Joel Palmer House in Day- more, he adds. The chef sweeps the soil a few times Parmesan Recipe by CHEF CHRISTOPHER CZARNECKI ton, where the cuisine is built before sidling up to the next tree. Across the path, Chef Joel Palmer House around wild mushrooms. The 1. Bring wine and lemon juice to destination restaurant is Paley likens the truffle hunt to foraging for morels, a simmer with onion, dash of housed in a historic home and mushroom with similarly elusive properties. “Once you cayenne, salt and white pepper is on the National Register of find one, you find a whole field of them,” he says. 2. Once onions have become translucent, strain them out and Historic Places and the Oregon “They reveal themselves to you.” Historic Register. add heavy cream to pot Czarnecki knows the cat-and-mouse game well. He for- 3. Reduce until sauce can coat a spoon, add heavy cream if over- ages for mushrooms at least once a month, an activity thickened pursued since he was seven years old. “My father al- 4. Add cooked pasta and truffle/ ways describes himself as a mushroom hunter who truffle butter likes to cook,” he says. (His father Jack, a celebrated 5. Plate pasta chef, also wrote the James Beard Award–winning cook- 6. Place butter-poached lobster book: A Cook's Book of Mushrooms). on top of pasta 7.