CHEF IN RESIDENCE, Deane Bussiere

Chef Deane Bussiere has been cooking professionally for twenty years. We met eight years ago when he was chef at the Flea Street Café in Menlo Park. Chef Deane is an advocate for sustainable and organic food production. He buys directly from the source whenever possible and is always in pursuit of perfect ingredients. He finds our vanilla beans to be the best he can find anywhere!

In September of 1989, Deane graduated with honors from the Culinary Institute of America. He then served as a chef at the prestigious Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park, Le Mouton Noir of Saratoga, and Emile's in San Jose.

Deane, his wife and three children, recently moved to Santa Cruz where he is the Executive Chef at the Shadowbrook Restaurant in Capitola. The romantic Shadowbrook Restaurant, located on a beautifully landscaped hillside overlooking Soquel Creek, is a local favorite for celebrating special moments such as anniversaries, graduations, weddings, and much more. With exemplary food and wines, the Shadowbrook is a must for anyone visiting the area. The Shadowbrook Restaurant is a member of the Culinary Alliance of Santa Cruz County (CASSC), a program that brings together the best of our local farmers, chefs, restaurants and products. The Vanilla Queen is proud to say that she is also a member of CASSC.

Deane says, "The Shadowbrook Restaurant's Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee is consistently one of our top selling desserts. Perhaps this is due to the exceptional vanilla beans I get from The Vanilla Queen."

If you do come to the Shadowbrook, you will probably meet Deane. He often visits the dining room and talks to guests. Let him know you read about him at The Vanilla.COMpany. You can check out the menu at www.shadowbrook-capitola.com. And now, for Deane's recipes.

VANILLA INFUSED GOLDEN BEETS
Courtesy of Chef Deane Bussiere

Ingredients:
1 large bunch of golden beets (about four large - red beets okay)
large pot of water
2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise

Instructions:

Trim the tops and bottoms off the beets, then scrub well under cold, running water.

Place beets in a large pot with cold water and 2 vanilla beans. Bring water to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.

Simmer beets approximately 1 hour or until beets are soft. Remove beets from water with a slotted spoon, and cool briefly under cold water. Save cooking liquid.

Reduce cooking liquid with vanilla beans until there is a little less than 1 cup left.

While liquid is reducing, peel beets and slice or dice.

When the cooking liquid is reduced, remove vanilla beans and pour liquid over beets. This dish may be served hot or cold.

Note: Allow vanilla beans to dry, then grind in a coffee mill, put through a sieve, and mix into sugar for a flavorful vanilla sugar.

VANILLA-FRAGRANCED DUCKLING, MADAGASCAR STYLE
Courtesy of Chef Deane Bussiere

Deane created this recipe especially for my book, Vanilla: The Cultural History of Everyone's Favorite Flavor and Fragrance.

Ingredients:

1 whole fresh duckling
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 yellow jumbo onion, split into quarters
1 orange, cut into four wedges
2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise
2 cups duck or chicken stock

Instructions:

Rinse the duckling inside and out, removing the neck, heart, gizzard and liver. Place the "innards" in the bottom of a roasting pan.

Season the duckling with salt and pepper inside and out. Place onion pieces into the duck cavity. Squeeze juice from the orange over the duckling, then put rinds into duck cavity. With a thin knife, cut a slit on each side of the breast and in each leg/thigh, and insert the vanilla bean halves. Put duckling on top of "innards" in roasting pan.

Roast duckling for 15 minutes in a 500 degree oven, then lower oven to 350 degrees and roast until a thermometer inserted into the duckling registers 165 degrees. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes.

Remove and discard onion and orange rinds. Using a cleaver, remove the back bone by standing the roasted duck on its neck end and cutting down each side of the back bone. Remove the rib cage and hip bones by slipping your finger tips around them, then lifting up and twisting the bones off the meat. The wing and leg bones remain.

Set innards aside and defat the roasting pan, then deglaze pan with the duck or chicken stock. Bring stock to a boil, adding bones and innards, and reduce stock to 1 cup. Remove the two half beans from the legs of the duckling and add to the cup of reduced stock, then reduce again to ½ cup

VANILLA BEAN BEURRE BLANC FOR GRILLED SEAFOODS
Courtesy of Chef Deane Bussiere

Ingredients:

1 bottle Sauvignon Blanc, Chablis or other light, dry white wine
1 pinch (about 20 strands) saffron
3 shallots, finely minced
1 pint heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure Tahitian vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla bean, finely minced
2 pounds lightly salted butter, room temperature
2 fresh roses, cleaned, petals removed (for finishing dish)

Instructions:

Place first 3 ingredients into a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, and reduce until it becomes syrup-like in texture.

Add cream and vanilla, reduce heat and allow mixture to slowly simmer -- about an hour -- until the cream is thick and coats the back of a spoon when lifted from the reduction. It will be approximately 1/4 of its original volume.

Reduce the heat further and slowly add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, whipping it into the cream until it is completely emulsified.

The finished sauce will yield about 4 cups -- enough 2-ounce portions for 16 fish fillets of 8 ounces each.

Note: Although the recipe makes 4 cups of beurre blanc, you can make half the recipe successfully for home use. It's so good that even if you have extra left over, you can incorporate it into soup or pour it over vegetables or poultry.