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From Truck to Table: Outdoor Recipes with Kevin O'Connor

15.08.24

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3 min read

From Truck to Table: Outdoor Recipes with Kevin O'Connor

Salted Cured Lardo and Tart Plums
Blistered Jimmy Nardello Peppers and Romano Beans with Fresh Marjoram
Wagyu Tataki, Roscaldo Onion, Sea Palm and Nasturtium
Corn with Nduja Butter, Basil and Cottage Cheese
Chevre warmed over the fire in fig leaves with grilled lemon and white anchovy
Commune Regional Wine

Chef Kevin O'Connor's Anderson Valley journey is also a culinary adventure. Forgaging along the Mendocino coast, he gathers sea palms and wild herbs to complement local market finds. From lardo-wrapped plums, to fire-warmed chevre in fig leaves. These recipes capture the spirit of wine country: simple, inspired and perfectly paired with Anderson Valley's finest.

Salted Cured Lardo and Tart Plums

Salted cured lardo (a type of Italian cured meat) and tart plums straight from the ice box are a simple show stopper of an appetiser that works with just about any type of chilled white, rose or bubbles.

Simply drape or wrap lardo around slices of plums and pluots, as you would melon and prosciutto, and finish with freshly cracked black pepper.

Blistered Jimmy Nardello Peppers and Romano Beans with Fresh Marjoram

Seasonal favourites from the farmer's market, sweet jimmy Nardelli peppers and fresh Romano beans get tossed in extra virgin olive oil and salt before being blistered on the plancha (or cast iron) until tender.

A high heat, and turning occasionally, allowing the beans and peppers to carmelise heavily before being tosed in fresh herbs like marjoram or oregano.

Wagyu Tataki, Roscaldo Onion, Sea Palm and Nasturtium

A quickly seared and thinly sliced highly marbled cut of beef, like a ribeye or coulotte, is perfect for this preparation that isn’t quite a carpaccio and isn’t quite a main course steak. Roscaldo onion, a large red spring onion in this case, is a one of the tastiest ways to cook an onion (and perhaps the easiest while camping).

Cooking the onions slowly in their skins takes time and a bit of attention, but is quite easy. This element should be started well before steaks are seared, as it takes roughly forty minutes to an hour. Once the fire is burning well and creating some manageable coals, move a few embers away from the fire and spread them out to make a bed for the onions. Place the onions on the coal bed about one foot from the fire and turn them occasionally until the exterior is charred and the interior feels soft when a knife is inserted. Remove from the coals and set near the fire to keep warm. Once ready to serve, remove the charred exterior and thinly slice.

A seared rare steak with a very hot pan should only take a couple minutes on each side. Allow each side to caramelize heavily in a very hot pan or plancha before removing and allowing to rest for five minutes. Slice as thin as possible and arrange in an even layer on a dish. Dress the beef with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling a flaky salt before finishing with the thin slices of onion, thinly sliced sea palm, or other tender seaweed, and nasturtium petals. Feel free to use different garnishes and be inspired with wat may be available around you.

Corn with Nduja Butter, Basil and Cottage Cheese

Nduja is a somewhat spicy, spreadable Italian pork sausage that's packed with flavour. To make the nduja butter, gently brown a stick of butter over the fire in a small pot before whisking in a few heaping spoonfuls of nduja until smooth. Move the butter aside and keep it near the fire to collect smoke while you roast the cobs of corn on a grill grate over the coals. To serve, cut the cobs into manageable size pieces, baste with the nduja butter and finish the plate with dollops of cottage cheese, a squeeze of lime, and freshly torn basil.

Chevre warmed over the fire in fig leaves with grilled lemon and white anchovy

One of the greatest campfire party tricks - gently warming cheese in fig leaves over the fire not only makes it spreadable and smokey, but introduces coconut like aromas of toasted fig leaves. Be sure to grill some lemon halves, toast some sourdough and serve alongside some briny things like anchovies or olives.

Commune Regional Wine

Commune was born out of a deep desire to understand a sense of place in California.

After many years spent working as a Sommelier - reading books, studying maps, and tasting wine wasn’t enough. Tyler needed to put his boots in the dirt. There is more beyond what one sees, smells, and hears in a vineyard - there is something to feel - an energy that captures the essence of that place, time, and the people there. Tyler took his career into wine distribution and importation where he spent many years travelling through the greatest wine regions of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and South America to test this theory. The wines he has come to love most are made by those who are present and connected with life. The energy behind their vision and their work is the defining character of the wines, and Tyler believes this can be felt every time one opens a bottle of wine.

2022 Sacramento County White Wine, French Colombard

French Colombard is an incredibly important and historic variety in California. At one time, the most planted white grape in the state. It has fallen out of favour for the more marketable Chardonnay. Colombard is a parent variety to Chenin Blanc, if treated similarly, produces a wine a lot like Chenin Blanc, but with exceptional acidity. The acid is the key to producing a fresh white wine in a warm climate. The wine tastes distinctly of Feijoa fruit (a.k.a pineapple guava) along with its typical wild florals and rocks. As usual, it is loaded with texture and acidity. Ideally accompanied by soft ripened cheeses, tinned sardines or fresh roasted white fish, and our favourite - roasted cabbage dishes. Fermented in neutral oak barrels with native yeast and bottled without fining and filtering. 70 cases produced.

2023 Monterey County Red Wine, Gamay Noir

Monterey County is an extremely exciting place for winegrowing. We have been searching for the right region to express one of our favourite varieties in the world, Gamay Noir, and this little pocket of the Santa Lucia Highlands gave us everything we were looking for. It is the only locale in California where we find the combination of Granite soils and cool climate - precisely the same make up of Gamay's homeland, Beaujolais. This wine is pure pleasure - flamboyantly red and fruity, spicy, with a texture so seductive it almost asks to be drunk. We fermented this with 100% whole clusters, 50% of that with carbonic maceration. It is perfect with roast chicken or pork and sweet summer vegetables like corn or peppers. 101 cases produced.

2022 Calaveras County Red Wine, Syrah

The rugged mountains of the Sierra Nevadas are a very special place for grape growing. Calaveras sits in the southern portion in a densely forested area. Here, rhone varieties shine as they are suited to soak up the sun, and enjoy cool nights that retain bright refreshing acidity. Syrah from this region shows intensity in a different way - red fruited with a wide range of savoury flavours like Castelvetrano olive, green peppercorn, and unsurprisingly, a gentle green pine quality. It is sanguine and full of meatiness. Grass fed beef is a perfect companion, ideally wagyu as the fattiness provides a silky backdrop for the rugged nature of this wine. 23 cases produced.