James Beard Award-Nominated Chefs Share Recipes and Inspiration

Savor the Flavor

Cook like a James Beard Award-nominated chef with recipes from Washington’s best

written by Cathy Carroll

In the 2009 movie Julie & Julia based on a similarly titled memoir, author Julie Powell, dismayed with her life and her job answering phone calls from victims of 9/11, challenges herself to cook the 524 recipes in Julia Child’s two-volume Mastering the Art of French Cooking in her tiny New York apartment kitchen in 365 days.

In the same vein, we’ve asked five Washington chefs honored by the James Beard Foundation to share recipes we can prepare at home. It’s also a chance to recognize the chefs who never saw the culmination of the nominations.

As restaurants reeled during the pandemic in 2020, the foundation did not pick winners in many categories, including those in which these Washington chefs were nominated. It was the first such decision in the awards’ thirty-year history. In 2021, in lieu of awards, the foundation hosted “Stories of Resilience and Leadership,” saluting the independent restaurant community and those who made a significant impact in the industry and their communities during the pandemic.

The awards for 2022 are pending, so stay tuned. In the meantime, get out your apron and fire up the stove. We wish you well on a culinary journey of your own using the recipes of some of America’s best chefs.

Aaron Verzosa | Archipelago

2020 James Beard Foundation Award Nominee: Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific (Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington); in October, named one of America’s 50 most exciting restaurants on The New York Times’ 2021 Restaurant List

Aaron Verzosa works to empower Filipino-owned food and beverage businesses.

René Asis

Seemingly everything Aaron Verzosa does reveals an intense longing to connect people in the Northwest to Filipino culture through its diverse, vibrant cuisine and to strengthen those bonds within the region’s Filipino American community. The pandemic didn’t hamper this effort. Instead, it sparked even more ingenious, ambitious tactics for the mission he shares with his wife-and-Archipelago restaurant partner, Amber Manuguid.

For example, when the lockdown hit, they began offering “Balikbayan Boxes,” named for the corrugated boxed care packages that Filipino workers who immigrated to the U.S. would send to families in their homeland. Verzosa’s version packed all the ingredients for a meal to cook at home, including an assortment of produce, mostly harvested the same day from his favorite Northwest farms.

The restaurant’s sauces and fermented products, such as the distinctly Filipino shrimp paste, are made in-house with Oregon shrimp. The seafood is from local fishmongers and in-house butchered cuts focus on sustainable, wholeanimal, zero-waste policy intrinsic to Filipino culture.

Prepared dishes for pickup, called Pamana, each had a theme highlighting an aspect of Filipino heritage and changed weekly, as did the boxed kits.

Aaron Verzosa and his wife and restaurant partner, Amber Manuguid, launched Balikbayan Box dinner kits.

Intentionalist

As with those pivots, Verzosa said whenever he shares recipes, including the one for this issue, he strives to connect the community with a dish that gives them freedom to adapt it for vegetarians, pescatarians, food allergies, personal preferences and the seasons.

“It’s a really comforting dish during these colder months,” he said. “It has a heartiness to it even without any meat. Especially now, we wanted to highlight our farmers, who are the heroes in a lot of ways.”

Verzosa grew up in Vancouver and graduated from the University of Washington, where he took a Filipino language class. He said the dish evokes nostalgia. “I remember it in some shape or form at almost every kind of celebration, like a birthday, and also one I love doing because it really showcases the vegetable-centric aspect of our cuisine that doesn’t get too much attention.”

He used pandemic restrictions as a means to ignite new ideas. “We wanted to not just keep the doors open, but also create an experience that still tapped into the creative spirit of how we approach the cuisine and our culture,” he said.

The James Beard award nomination was rewarding on a level that was not just personal.

“We are happy to be recognized, but what is most important … is for our culture—to show younger generations as well as older that we’re very proud of our cuisine, and it can stand up to any cuisine—fine dining, fast casual, it has a lot of potential and a lot of power. That’s why we got into it, to build a business that diversifies the food scene and what people engage in.”

Recipe: Ginataang Kalabasa

FOR THE GINATAAN SAUCE

• 2 cups whole roasted unsalted hazelnuts (or hazelnut butter)

• 2 large yellow onions, sliced thin

• 1/2 head garlic, sliced thin

• 2 teaspoons ginger, minced

• 1 teaspoon Dilaw or turmeric powder

• 2 siling labuyo or small red hot chili, stem removed (can substitute 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper)

• 1 1/2 teaspoon tomato paste

• ¼ cup white wine vinegar

• 1 tablespoon fish sauce

• 1 tablespoon salt

• 3 tablespoons clarified butter or neutral oil (such as canola or vegetable)

• 4 cups vegetable stock

FOR THE SQUASH

• 6 cups mixed winter squash or 1 large winter squash (try red kuri or kabocha), diced into 3/4 inch cubes

• Oil

• Salt

TO ASSEMBLE

• 3 cups seasonal greens (kales, spinach, green beans), chopped

• ¼ cup shallot, minced

• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced

• 1 teaspoon ginger, minced

• 1/2 tablespoon bagoong guisado (fried fermented shrimp paste)

• Reserved ginataan sauce

• 1 tablespoon chives, minced

• 2 tablespoons neutral oil

FOR THE GINATAAN SAUCE

Place roasted hazelnuts in a food processor and process for 4 to 5 minutes until it forms a butter. (They must be roasted to form a butter.) Or, you can substitute hazelnut butter. On medium heat in a medium size sauce pot, sauté onions and garlic with a wooden spoon in clarified butter or neutral oil until almost translucent, about 4 to 5 minutes. Season with 2 teaspoons of salt. Add ginger, chiles, turmeric and tomato paste and cook for another 2 minutes.

Add the vinegar and fish sauce, and cook until reduced by half. Mix in the hazelnut butter to incorporate it, which should take about 30 seconds.

Add the vegetable stock, season with another teaspoon of salt, bring to a very low simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally so the sauce does not burn.

Puree sauce in a blender until smooth. Adjust salt level to taste. Set aside and keep it warm.

FOR THE SQUASH

While making the sauce, set oven to 400 degrees. Toss sauce with squash in neutral oil and season with salt. Roast squash in oven until just barely cooked (with a slight bite, not mushy), about fifteen to twenty minutes. Set aside.

Peel off the skin of squashes that are not tender after cooking.

TO ASSEMBLE

Sauté shallot and garlic on medium high heat until lightly caramelized, about 2 to 3 minutes, mix in bagoong, and gently incorporate reserved squash, coating with sautéed base. Add the greens and sauté to wilt slightly. Add the reserved ginataan sauce and bring to a low simmer.

Allow to cook and let flavors all come together until squash finishes cooking all the way through, about 5 to 10 minutes. Garnish with chives or other herbs you enjoy.

OPTIONAL ADDITIONS

• Mushrooms (shiitake, oyster, maitake are great), can be roasted with squash or caramelized.

• Pork, small cubes of shoulder caramelized and seasoned are a great topping.

• Shrimp, simply sautéed or added at the end to just cook through.

• Fish such as cod, halibut or salmon poached gently in the sauce.

• Crab steamed and tossed in the mix (use the crab fat in the head blended into the sauce for Filipino bonus points).

• Chicken (great roasted and mixed in at the end).

CHEF’S NOTE

For nut allergies, substitute pumpkin seeds or seed butters.

Hazelnuts are our local preference, but the classic dish uses coconut milk. You can substitute the vegetable stock and nut butter entirely with coconut milk.

The sauce works great for all kinds of other vegetables, sauteed or stewed in the sauce, or you can just use the sauce over some roasted meat or seafood.

For a vegetarian version, omit the shrimp paste and fish sauce, replacing with some tamari, or a couple of teaspoons of dried mushroom powder. Just the right amount of funkiness hits that cultural note in the dish.

Mitch Mayers | Sawyer

2020 James Beard Foundation Award Nominee: Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific (Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington)

Mitch Mayers creates innovative, whimsical, yet approachable dishes, such as short-rib pho matzo balls and wood-fired sirloin duck-fat tater tots.

Growing up in Bellevue, Mitch Mayers’ first job in the culinary world was mixing cotton candy sugar and spinning the fluffy treat-ona-stick at one of his family’s booths at the state fair. The family business still guides the creativity at his restaurant, Sawyer, in Ballard, which was a James Beard Foundation 2019 national semifinalist for Best New Restaurant as well as a nominee for 2020 Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific.

At Sawyer, in Ballard, American fare reaches new creative heights on a menu designed for family-style sharing—in a renovated 1920s sawmill.

Brooke Fitts

To wit: we caught up with him when he was at work developing Dungeness crab in a donut. “I’m trying it with a lobster bisque sauce, apples frisée and crème fraîche, so yes, that adds a little pizzazz, but it’s still a doughnut at the end of the day,” said Mayers. “I try not to forget roots and recognize it’s a big part of me, but a lot of people like that stuff for a reason—it’s fun, it’s exciting, and we try not to take ourselves too seriously.

“Food that’s reminiscent of something is so much more powerful in connecting with it and enjoying it—it’s beyond just the flavor profile, it reminds you of something,” he said. “Comfort food is something that’s familiar to you … that’s what we go for. The food we serve is personal to us, but hopefully also rings true to others as well.”

He shared his recipe for shrimp and grits because it’s accessible for home cooking. “It’s delicious and hearty this time of year,” he said, but it doesn’t have an intimidating number of steps. “Restaurant recipes have a lot of steps that people don’t realize.” Prep cooks come in at 7 a.m. for dishes that aren’t served until 5 p.m. “With this dish, great flavors happen very quickly.”

Recipe: Shrimp and Grits

• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 cup small diced red bell pepper

• 1 cup small diced celery

• 1 cup small diced onion

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• ½ tsp ground mustard seed

• ½ tsp smoked paprika

• ½ tsp chili powder

• ¼ tsp ground cumin

• ¼ tsp cayenne

• 1/3 cup dry white wine

• 1 cup stock (preferably seafood stock, but vegetable or chicken will also work)

• 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

• 1 pound cleaned shrimp

• Kosher salt to taste

• Lemon juice to taste

• Grits or polenta

FOR THE GRITS

• 2 cups chicken broth

• 2 cups whole milk

• 1/3 cup butter, cubed

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon pepper

• 3/4 cup uncooked old-fashioned grits

• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a pot add oil, bell peppers, celery, onion, and garlic and cook of medium low heat for thirty to forty minutes stirring often until vegetables are soft. Add spices and stir and continue to cook over low heat for two minutes to toast the spices. Add wine to the pot and cook for five minutes to cook the alcohol out. This sofrito base can be stored for up to five days in the refrigerator.

Pat shrimp dry with towel and season with kosher salt.

In a separate large sauté pan, add 2 tablespoons of oil and set over high heat. When the oil begins to glisten, add shrimp to the pan. After 30 seconds to 1 minute, flip the shrimp when they turn pink on the bottom. After flipping, add 2 tablespoons of sofrito base to the pan. Add the stock and bring to a simmer. When the stock simmers, whisk in the butter. Adjust sauce with salt to desired taste and add a squeeze of lemon if desired.

FOR THE GRITS

In a large saucepan, bring the broth, milk, butter, salt and pepper to a boil. Slowly stir in grits. Reduce heat. Cover and cook for 12 to 14 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Stir in cheese until melted. Set aside and keep warm.

TO PLATE

Serve shrimp over grits or polenta. Garnish with radish, scallions and cilantro.

Elizabeth Kenyon | Rupee Bar & Manolin

2020 James Beard Award: America’s Rising Star Chef of the Year Nominee

Elizabeth Kenyon grew up on a Montana farm and explored the world’s flavors before falling for Northwest bounty in Seattle.

Kyle Johnson

Chef Elizabeth Kenyon shared this recipe for several reasons: for one, when she was working in Italy, she fell in love with the flavors of simple braised beef shank. When she traveled to Sri Lanka, she found mutton used in mountainous regions and liked the idea of using older animals for dishes because they impart complex flavors. The thool curry is inspired by the country’s Jaffna region.

“It’s a deep, complex, spicy curry blend that works beautifully with lamb and especially roasted, grilled or braised meats,” she said. “I wanted to bring this all together for a large-format winter dish for a couple of people to enjoy on our rainy Seattle nights.

“I love a good braise. It’s easy, delicious and really fun to present a large piece of meat to friends and family. I like larger cuts because it makes for a fun and involved eating experience.”

She offered a few tips for making this dish. Let the shanks sit in the braising liquid for twenty-four hours in the fridge, she said, because the meat will absorb all the flavors of the ingredients in the braise. “It makes a huge difference,” said Kenyon. “Use this tip for any braising meats.”

The vegetarian version of this dish is also superb, using winter vegetables. “I have braised celeriac, whole cabbage and any root vegetables this way for a hearty vegetarian meal,” said Kenyon.

Any Indian grocery will have curry leaves and spices. Kenyon uses India Supermarket in Bellevue. She suggested making a larger batch of the curry blend and chili oil and keep in an airtight container to use on naan, pita, sourdough bread, rice or lentils. The lamb shank dish remains on the Rupee Bar menu. Staples such as the dhal curry, with red lentils, mustard seed, and curry leaf and Kerala fried chicken, yogurt-marinated chicken thighs, spiced, breaded, fried and spiced again, have held steady on a menu that embraces seasonal items, too.

Rupee Bar in Seattle.

Noah Forbes

Kenyon also leads the kitchen of nationally acclaimed fish-focused Manolin, where the pandemic fueled rather than foiled the creative spark. They launched the pop-up Old Salt at Manolin (currently Thursdays through Sundays) where the bagels are made fresh daily and adorned with briny bounty such as smoked black cod, gravlax, kippered keta and trout. “We procure all of our fish through Northwest Bounty and smoke everything in house,” said Kenyon. “It’s been a really fun project to work on.”

At home, her approach to cooking isn’t much different from that of other busy people. “My go-to is a turmeric soup that is super simple and comforting,” Kenyon said. “With my crazy hours, I can whip up a batch in fifteen minutes for the next few days.”

She’s also managed to work with Sound Excursions virtual events in Seattle offering livestream cooking videos. “It has been a blast,” said Kenyon. “It’s awesome to see people cooking along and seeing the finished products in their own homes.”

Recipe: Lamb Shank with Thool Curry (Plus: Tips for a vegetarian version)

FOR THE CURRY BLEND (PREPARE FIRST)

• 2 ½ tablespoons coriander

• 2 ½ teaspoons cumin

• 1 teaspoon fennel seed

• ½ teaspoon fenugreek

• ½ teaspoon black peppercorns

• 2 cardamom pods

• ½ small Ceylon cinnamon stick

• 2 cloves

• 2 sprigs curry leaf

• 3 tablespoons dried red chili powder (preferably guajillo or similar)

FOR THE CHILI OIL

• 4 tablespoon guajillo powder or similar spice from Indian or Mexican market

• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika

• ½ c olive oil

FOR THE BRAISED SHANKS

• 2 lamb fore shanks or hind shanks from your local butcher

• 1 yellow onion, chopped

• 2 Fresno chilis (or more for increased spiciness), chopped

• 2 sprigs curry leaves, stems removed

• 8 garlic cloves, chopped

• 2 tablespoons thool curry blend

• ¼ cup and 2 tablespoons neutral oil (vegetable or canola)

• 1 ounce vermouth or white wine

• 2 cups vegetable stock, beef stock or water

FOR THE CURRY BLEND

Dry curry leaf in low oven. Remove and let cool. Toast all spices separately in sauté pan until aromatic.

Do not burn. If this happens, start over or the blend will taste bitter. Lay toasted spices flat on plate or sheet tray to cool. When cool, blend in spice grinder or blender until powdery. Place in airtight container. Spices will last for 2 to 4 weeks before losing potency.

FOR THE CHILI OIL

Blend in the blender, strain if desired.

FOR THE BRAISED SHANKS

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Season the shanks liberally with salt. Heat a sauté pan, preferably cast iron. When white smoke forms, add 2 tablespoons of the neutral oil. Sear shanks on all sides until dark and caramelized. Set aside. Add all ingredients except vermouth and thool curry blend to the pan and cook until golden.

Add the alcohol to the cooked vegetables to deglaze the pan and stir well making sure to get the fond off the bottom of the pan. Turn off heat and add thool curry powder and mix well.

Place vegetable mixture in an oven-safe dish with a lid. (Kenyon uses Le Creuset or Staub braising pans.) Place the shanks on top of the vegetables and wiggle the pan gently to get the shanks nuzzled into them. Add 2 cups of water, vegetable or beef stock. Cover with lid and place in oven for 3 hours or until tender.

When finished, pull from the oven and let it cool to room temperature before placing in the fridge.

Next day: Remove shanks from braising liquid and let it come to room temperature. Place braising liquid in sauce pot. Bring to a light simmer and turn off heat. Add liquid to blender and blend until very smooth. Add 1/4 c of neutral oil and whisk to emulsify. Season with salt and lemon to taste.

TO PLATE

Place shanks in a sauté pan and spoon some curry sauce over the shanks

Place in 400-degree oven for 15 minutes until heated through.

While the shanks are in the oven, heat curry sauce in a saucepan over low to medium heat. Do not boil. Place warm curry on bottom of plate and place shanks in the middle. Garnish with chili oil, sea salt flakes (preferably Maldon) salt and/ or microgreens.

Mutsuko Soma | Kamonegi

2020 James Beard Foundation Award Nominee: Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific (Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington)

Mutsuko Soma opened nationally acclaimed Kamonegi, which is Japanese for “duck and leek,” which alludes to when one good thing brings another—and it is also a delicious pairing with soba.

Chef Mutsuko Soma came up in the restaurant business at respected Seattle restaurants such as Harvest Vine, Chez Shea and Saito’s. What she really wanted, though, was to introduce fresh soba—the kind her grandmother made for family dinners—to a broader audience. She returned to Japan to learn the art of making traditional soba, where the beloved buckwheat noodle is savored cold or hot.

During her soba studies, Soma discovered that Washington was among the largest buckwheat producing states in America. That reaffirmed her plan to popularize soba in the Pacific Northwest. She founded Kamonegi as a pop-up and opened the restaurant in 2017, receiving national accolades.

Soma decided to share this brown butter mochi recipe because it reflects how she is inspired by cooking techniques and recipes from around the world. This is inspired by French cuisine, in particular a sauce called beurre noisette, often called hazelnut butter because melted brown butter tastes almost like hazelnuts.

“Mochi is always a tradition to eat around the new year in Japan,” said Soma. “I wanted to showcase that there are many different styles to enjoy mochi and this recipe is very easy to make as well.”

Soma is the kind of chef who thirsts for knowledge and loathes being parched. She is a certified kikizakeshi, or sake sommelier, and with Kamonegi co-owner Russell King opened Hannyatou sake bar next door. During the pandemic, her team’s pastime of sorts was learning about French wines. “We all cook a dish to pair with a bottle in our little wine group,” she said. “We meet once a week. This wine group has given us a place to learn, study and be creative, making dishes that normally will be out of our comfort zone.”

She had a lockdown motto that still rings true: “Stay strong Seattle, stay soba.”

Recipe: Brown Butter Mochi

• 2 mochi (Japanese palm-sized, chewy, glutinous rice cakes)

• 1 tablespoon soy

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• Shichimi peppers (chili flakes, also optional)

FOR THE SAUCE

Melt butter in a sauté pan on medium heat until it is brown. Add soy and sugar and mix.

FOR THE MOCHI

Bake mochi in an oven at 425 degrees until it puffs and the corners are a bit burned. (This usually takes about five minutes, but check periodically.)

Dip mochi in the buttery soy sauce and enjoy, or sprinkle a little shichimi pepper on top for added spice.

Rachel Yang | Joule & Revel

2020 James Beard Foundation Award Nominee: Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific (Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington)

Seattle Chef Rachel Yang shares her signature Korean fusion recipes in the cookbook My Rice Bowl: Korean Cooking Outside the Lines.

Charity Burggraaf

Rachel Yang and her husband, Seif Chirchi, who fell in love in New York City while working in a kitchen run by famed French chef Alain Ducasse, have turned their obsession with bold, unexpected Asianflavors and classic, rigorous technique into a pair of Pacific Northwest culinary darlings. They’ve been recognized with five years of nominations for the James Beard Award for Best Chef Northwest. You’ll typically find Yang and Chirchi cooking on the line in one of their open kitchens, their “babies” who vie for their attention with their two young sons, Rye and Pike.

Rachel Yang prescribes comfort foods in turbulent times and offers tips for making the Kimchi Cheese Pancake.

“Crispy-yet-gooey cheese is the key to balance spicy and tangy kimchi in this dish,” she said. “Make sure you get a nice crust on the cheese side of the pancake before you flip.”

She considers it “the ultimate comfort food. It’s easy to make, especially if you have a jar of kimchi at home that you don’t know what to do with.”

For full-spectrum comfort, however, even a chef needs to order takeout sometimes. “I am a big fan of spicy food and love Chinese Sichuan dishes,” said Yang. “You can make or get a takeout of an order of mapo tofu (spicy, saucy, oily, with minced beef), and you can make at least four to five different variations out of that.”

Recipe: Kimchi Cheese Pancake

Makes two 9-inch pancakes

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 2 tablespoon cornstarch

• 1 tablespoon garlic powder

• 1 tablespoon onion powder

• 1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean chili paste)

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 each egg

• ¾ cup water

• 1 cup kimchi, chopped

• ¼ cup mozzarella cheese

• ¼ cup cheddar cheese

• 2 tablespoons canola oil

Mix flour, cornstarch, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and baking powder together in a mixing bowl.

Add egg and water to the dry mixture. Mix well.

Add kimchi and mix well.

Heat a 9” non stick pan with 1 tablespoon of oil over a medium heat. Pour the half of the batter and spread well.

Sprinkle half of mozzarella and half of cheddar cheese evenly over the batter.

Once the bottom has crisped up and browned after about 2 to 4 minutes, flip and cook the other side the same way. Make one more. Serve the pancakes hot.