From Music To The Kitchen

Greg Grass comes from an artistic family.

His mother and brother are accomplished musicians. His late father was a linguist who also dabbled in painting. While he was growing up, Grass fiddled around with the violin, the banjo and the piano. Then he discovered cooking.

“I found it was easy to perform well,” said Grass, who is the culinary brains behind Gregory’s and Vecchio’s restaurants in Sandpoint. “I got a lot of satisfaction from making something people would ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ over. It was my artistic endeavor.”

Grass landed his first cooking job while in college in Illinois. He worked for a couple of old-style hotels in Springfield, learning tricks from world-class chefs from Italy and Germany. Rather than enrolling in cooking school, he trained in the Old World way, mastering every station in the kitchen.

He later went to California and honed his skills with elegant continental fare at a swank restaurant in San Jose. Grass came to Sandpoint in 1980 after his then-wife lost her long battle with brain cancer.

“We had a place we owned up here where we would come and play,” Grass said. He spent time in the kitchen at the Floating Restaurant in Hope and at the defunct Henry Villards, was the food and beverage director at Schweitzer, owned a baking company and spent a year at the innovative, yet ill-fated Bistro before opening the restaurant that bears his name two years ago.

In his long and varied career, Grass said he has learned the importance of keeping dishes simple.

“It’s easy to overdo things. When you get a lot of flavors going, you can end up with a stew,” he said.

That philosophy has served him well in recent years, as Americans seem to be favoring lighter preparations.

“When I first started out, everything was covered in sauce made with roux (butter and flour),” Grass said. “Now, people are cooking with reductions (concentrated stocks or wine), so dishes are lighter. And people are ordering more chicken and turkey.”

Grass most enjoys cooking seafood. His ultimate treat is fresh, raw oysters. Served on the half shell, with a tangy French-inspired sauce made of red wine vinegar, chopped shallots and cracked black pepper, his oysters are a study in simplicity.

Grass concedes, somewhat remorsefully, that diners’ tastes gravitate toward simple, straightforward preparations, too.

“I can play around with specials, but the ribeye steak will always sell best,” he said.

On the rare occasion he entertains at home, Grass will try something more involved and exotic like a Spanish paella or a stuffed pork loin.

“Even after all these years, I haven’t burned myself out,” he said. “I still love to cook.”

Wild Mushroom Egg Rolls with Braised Leek Salad

From Gregory’s Restaurant in Sandpoint. If possible, use the thin spring roll wrappers found in the freezer case at Asian grocery stores.

Spring rolls:

2 portobello mushrooms

12 shiitake mushrooms

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced

1/4 cup Madeira wine

Salt and pepper to taste

6 ounces smoked Gouda cheese

4 spring roll or egg roll wrappers

Salad:

1 small leek red bell pepper

1 tablespoon butter

2 small cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup dry white wine (preferably chablis or chardonnay)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Stem, halve and slice portobellos. Trim the tough stem from the shiitakes and discard; slice shiitakes. In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil, add minced garlic and shallot and saute over medium heat until translucent.

Add mushrooms and toss until they begin to wilt. Add Madeira and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper and cool. Grate the cheese into a bowl and reserve.

To assemble the spring rolls, lay the wrappers on a clean, dry surface with the edges pointing toward you, forming a diamond shape. Moisten the two edges pointing away from you with water. Place 1/4 of the cheese on each wrapper and top with 1/4 of the mushroom mixture. Fold up the bottom point over the filling, then fold over the left and right sides. Roll forward to form the egg roll, making sure the edges are damp enough so the wrapper will stick together.

Heat vegetable oil in a deep fryer or a deep-sided pan until almost smoking, about 350 degrees.

In the meantime, make the leek salad. Trim the leek of all rough green top and root end, split in half and rinse well. Cut into 2-inch pieces, then julienne strips. Stem, seed and julienne the bell pepper. Heat the butter in a small saute pan. Add the minced garlic and saute until translucent. Add leek and bell pepper, toss and add wine. Season to taste with salt and pepper and cover the pan.

While the leek mixture is braising, fry the spring rolls, turning frequently so they cook evenly on all sides.

When the liquid in the leek mixture is almost gone, remove from heat and divide between two plates. Splash each with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and arrange egg rolls around salad.

Yield: 2 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 695 calories, 44 grams fat (57 percent fat calories), 26 grams protein, 36 grams carbohydrates, 119 milligrams cholesterol, 1,216 milligrams sodium.

Note: Don’t be afraid to experiment with the ingredients - morel or oyster mushrooms instead of shiitakes; Marsala, sherry or brandy in place of the Madeira; Swiss or pepper jack cheese for the Gouda.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo