We proudly partner with restaurants all across our country, including Oven and Shaker in Portland, Oregon. A “modern urban saloon in the Heart of Portland’s Pearl District,” Oven and Shaker specializes in hearty Italian street food, wood-fired pizza, and ingredient-driven cocktails.
We asked Chef de Cuisine Leo Brill what he’s been making with the summer bounty. “Recently we’ve been doing minimal prep to the wonderful stone fruit we’ve been getting from you by making them into fruit crisps,” said Chef Leo. He graciously shared with us how to use stone fruit like a pro.
To make these quick crisps, Chef Leo first cuts the stone fruit, puts it into heatproof dishes, and cooks it slightly to soften and bring out their natural sweetness. There’s no added sugar necessary! Chef Leo then covers them with a simple, buttery brown-sugar crumble, and heats them in their wood oven. When the crisps comes out, they scoop house-made vanilla gelato on top, then drizzle a spoonful of the stone fruit consommé over the top.
To make the consommé, they reserve the pits of the stone fruits. Then, they put them in a metal bowl, which they tightly wrap with plastic wrap (this can also be done with an airtight lid to minimize plastic waste). Then, they set the bowl over the top of a boiling pot of water for an hour, or until the fruit begins to give off juices. They strain it and sweeten it ever-so-slightly with sugar.
In addition to the delicious stone fruit crips and consommé, which you can try right now on their summer menu, Chef Leo has also been using brown rice to make thin Parmesan-flavored crackers. They cook our rice with water and Parmesan rind until it’s very mushy, like porridge. They remove the Parmesan rind and smear it thinly over a sheet tray with a silicone pad and dehydrate it in the oven at 140 overnight. Then, they break it up and drop it in the fryer for a short time. Voila! Super thin, crispy, and delicious brown rice crackers that can be utilized in numerous ways.
We hope you learned a few new ways to cook with your stone fruit and brown rice! Be sure to check out Oven and Shaker in Portland and let us know what you think!
