Conscious Choice Seattle: Good Taste in Organic

March 2006 | Local Focus

Good Taste in Organic

By Ritzy Ryciak

Maria Hines has no intention of “organic thumping” anyone.

In fact, she hopes that when people come to organic food they do it from a place of flavor inspiration and not in response to outer condemnation.

"It should begin with ‘this tastes good, ‘” says Hines, named a Food & Wine magazine top 10 chef of 2005 and executive chef at downtown restaurant Earth and Ocean for the last two and a half years.

She is taking a break from cooking to describe the first step that gets her customers interested in eating organic and locally grown food.

“Yes, I want people to relate with where their food is coming from but it shouldn’t be a forced process or done in a lecture,” she says.

Her lavender-thyme custard with almond cracker and orange reduction is definitely not a lecture.

"Knowing how food is harvested helps me feel more connected to what I am cooking,” continues Hines, who has foraged for mushrooms, observed her produce harvested from the fields and visited a local cheese-maker in Walla Walla. “I do think that feeling a connection with the ingredients helps with the flavor."

Hines is no stranger to the physical labor required to farm, forage, make cheese, start a vineyard, you name it. She is a rock climber and accomplished runner who has been featured in Runner’s World magazine.

She hopes food that tastes good, so fresh, so flavorful, leads to curiosity. Sort of wanting to know more along with a second help. Next, Hines visualizes that curiosity brings the happy eater to a local farmer’s market and a better understanding of wholesome food and where it comes from.

"It makes me happy when people ask questions,” says Hines, who makes it her business to know where her ingredients come from and who the producers are. “When customers order dishes and notice that the greens they are tasting are better than any others they have ever tasted before, I like to be able to tell them, well, those came from Full Circle Farm."

At Earth and Ocean, located in the lobby of Seattle’s W Hotel, for some of the dishes, customers don’t even need to ask questions. For instance, the dinner menu boasts a Washington Farm Direct Vegetarian Menu. Tonight it features Truffle Carnaroli Risotto and notes that the Washington truffles were foraged by state-based Jeremy Faber.

Simple and good

Hines, who is half Okinawan, half Scottish and graced with hair that dangles in a jet black braid all the way down to her lower back, explains that when you begin working with the highest quality products, local and organic, you can cook very simply.

That is a cook’s dream, whether dishing for a downtown room or your friends in, say, Magnolia or Ballard.

"Dishes do not need to be muddy and murky,” she says. “The product stands on its own and you want to keep the flavors pure and simple."

In an effort to “respect the ingredient,” Hines enjoys cooking all parts of a single vegetable and showing it off in one dish. She offers the example of celery root and its stalk.

"The root vegetable has earth qualities to it while the stalks offer that bright, fresh, clean flavor,” explains Hines. “I like to pair the two together."

A favorite Hines recipe is to roast the root, puree it into a coulee and add just a splash of cream to enhance the richness and texture of the liquid. While the root simmers, Hines peels the celery stalks and slowly cooks them in white wine in the oven.

"To bring out the brightness I might serve it with a piece of white fish,” she says, relating to her ingredients like an artist talks color.

In the final step, Hines takes the tender leaves of the celery stalk hearts and tosses them with in a light vinaigrette.
"In one meal you experience the entire vegetable prepared in three different ways,” says Hines. “You are cooking these ingredients in as many ways as you can when they are in season and at the same time, not being wasteful."

Ritzy Ryciak is a regular contributor to Seattle Conscious Choice. She will be exploring more local food issues in the growing and harvest seasons ahead.

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