The Bearded Lady Food Company : Honed And Evolved

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Olympia BakingBy: Mary Ellen

What a difference one year can make. Bearded Lady Food Company owners Melanie Shelton and Jordan Marsicek have honed and evolved their sweet and savory menu items in their cozy downtown eating space. All the while they were madly canning and preserving local fruits to be able to use them through out the year. Remember the cherries or the berries? They are a few of the stars in their homemade ice creams or creative cupcakes.

You have likely seen or eaten one of their specialty bakery items like their vegan or gluten free cupcakes. They are sold at both food coops, Traditions, Batdorf and Bronson, Café Vita, Sizizis, Quality Burrito, Tofu Hut, and Bayview Thriftway to name a few. Last year they decided to expand the use of their downtown space to offer their own retail outlet and a place to sit down for late afternoon, evening or after-show treats. They have a rotating Snaps Menu, which are savory items with cheeses, bread and caramelized seasonal fruit, or you can pick a dessert such as sweet potato-banana upside down cake (vegan) or build your own sundae with amazing made-on-site ice cream. Top your sundae with toasted nuts, fresh stone fruit (like cherries and plums) or a vegan brownie. Maybe you have tried one of the food chain eateries for a sundae – all well and good, but this is in another league. My roasted pear orange ice cream with dark chocolate chunks was a party in every bite. It was fruity, chocolaty, creamy and wonderful.

Olympia BakingAfter my ‘appetizer’ of ice cream I beheld a torte of gingerbread cake, caramel mousse and roasted plum ice cream over blackened caramel sauce. Tastes of summer plums, autumnal spices in the gingerbread and the buttery perfection of caramel sauce were stacked with artistic precision. It was a cloud of culinary bliss.

Make your way downtown the Bearded Lady, which is just a block off 4th Avenue on Franklin. Order a make-your-own hot chocolate with your choice of milk and a scoop of homemade ganache. Ponder the menu, check out the reader board, sit back and enjoy every morsel.

 

Eat Well – Be Well.

Roasted Pear Orange Ice Cream w/dark Chocolate Chunks

20 ounces coconut milk

7 ounces roasted pear puree

1 cup sugar

one-quarter teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon orange zest

one-half teaspoon lemon juice

one-quarter teaspoon nutmeg

one-eighth teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon vanilla

a half scraped vanilla pod (if you like)

one-third cup chopped chocolate chunks

Puree all ingredients and chill for 30 minutes and freeze.

Pear Roasting

Peel, quarter and core pears and place in a roasting pan. Roast at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes until tender.

Roasting Plums

Cut in half and remove the pit. Lightly coat plums with sugar, salt, pepper and oil. Roast at 300 degrees for 15 minutes. You can top with yogurt and eat it like a dessert or you can serve along side pork or other meat as a side dish. You might try using cinnamon, clover or cayenne.

Tasty Food Tidbit:

Apples, apples and more apples.

My 40-pound box of Fuji’s arrived which puts me into the applesauce mode. Making sauce is as easy as can be: rinse the apples, quarter and core them. Rough cut into pieces and fill up the crockpot (leave on the skins). No need to add water. Cover and cook all day. When the apples are soft, use a potato masher to squash them. Now you have a pot of freshly made applesauce.

If it’s too runny for your taste, remove the lid and let it cook longer; stir occasionally. The liquid will evaporate and the sauce will thicken. If you do this for a long time, you will end up with apple butter, which makes for good eating but it is not the same as applesauce.

The Farmers Market has recently had fresh cranberries from Westport. For one of my batches, I added a bountiful 2 cups to my crockpot with all the apples. This cran-apple sauce is a savory treat.  You could add sugar, honey, agave or no sugar at all, depending on your preferences.

With so many varieties of apples now for sale, you can mix and match. Every batch of applesauce will be a little different in sweetness, density and taste.

 

Olympia BakingThe Bearded Lady Food Company

412 Franklin St.

Olympia

360-943-6235

www.beardedladyfood.weebly.com

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