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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 2015)
Pilar French brings lounge, funk, blues to McMenamins Sand Trap Pub Friday A holiday roast doesn’t need to be beef or bird – try salmon By MELISSA D’ARABIAN My favorite roasted salm- on strategy couldn’t be easier. Associated Press -XVW EUXVK WKH ¿OOHW ZLWK VHD- soned olive oil (which can be Who says a holiday roast as simple as salt, pepper and has to be red meat or poultry? oil), roast it quickly at high Take a page from my French heat, then top it with a quick husband’s family’s book of vinaigrette-style sauce. Mix traditions and serve salmon! together almost any combina- I like to buy one single tion of herbs, spices and aro- ODUJH ¿OOHW LI SRVVLEOH WKHQ matics with some acid (such serve it on the largest platter as lemon juice or red wine ,FDQ¿QG,WPDNHVIRUDSUHW- vinegar) and oil, then spoon ty dramatic and colorful hol- it over the just-roasted, piping iday meal centerpiece. Plus, KRW¿VK'HOLFLRXV roasted salmon is incredibly The hardest part about this easy, quick (taking minutes, dish? Not overcooking it! My not hours like many roasts), advice is to take it out a cou- and is versatile. Since we try ple minutes before you think WRHDWIDWW\¿VKWZLFHDZHHN it is done. It will be perfect. in our home, this holiday fa- Or you also could use an in- vorite helps get us there, year- stant thermometer and cook it round. to 135 F. Roasted Salmon with Lemons, Prunes and Olives Start to finish: 30 minutes Servings: 6 For the salmon: 2-pound wild salmon or steel- head trout fillet 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 clove garlic, minced 2 tablespoons lemon juice Salt and ground black pepper 2 lemons, thinly sliced, seeds re- moved For the topping: 3/4 cup prunes, pitted and halved 3/4 cup briny, green olives, pitted, lightly chopped or left whole, as desired 2 tablespoons capers 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill Juice and zest of 1 lemon 1 tablespoon olive oil Salt and ground black pepper Directions: Heat the oven to 450 F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with kitchen parchment. Set the salmon on the prepared baking sheet. In a small bowl, mix together the oil, garlic, lemon juice and a hefty pinch each of salt and pepper. Spread the seasoned oil over the fish, then arrange the lemon slices over it. Bake until cooked through, but the flesh is still a little translucent, about 10 AP Photo/Matthew Mead Roasted salmon makes for a pretty, dramatic and colorful holiday meal centerpiece. minutes. Meanwhile, set the prunes in a medium bowl. Pour 1/2 cup of boiling water over them and set aside to soft- en for several minutes. In a second medium bowl, mix to- gether the olives, capers, parsley, dill, lemon juice and zest, and the olive oil. Drain the prunes, then add those. Mix well, then season with salt and pep- per. As soon as the salmon comes out of the oven, carefully transfer it to a serving platter and spoon the prune mixture over it. Nutrition information per serving: 630 calories; 210 calories from fat (33 percent of total calories); 23 g fat (5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 235 mg cho- lesterol; 500 mg sodium; 16 g carbohy- drate; 2 g fiber; 9 g sugar; 93 g protein. Flourine & Co. hosts holiday event Saturday ASTORIA — Beauty apothe- cary Flourine & Co. will hold a holiday event from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 19. The proprietors and makers of Sea Witch Botanicals will showcase their products and New Tradewinds Collections. They will answer questions and discuss why they leave out synthetic fragrances, pre- servatives, formaldehyde and many other chemicals from their products. There will be compli- mentary libations and hor d’oeuvres. With any purchase, cus- tomers can enter to win a gift basket. There are three worth $50, $75 and $100 with products from bareMinerals, Brooke Elizabeth Organics, the Balm, Sea Witch Botan- icals & 11th Street Barber as ZHOO DV JLIW FHUWL¿FDWHV IURP Pat’s Pantry, Doe & Arrow, Forsythea & Street 14 Cafe. Flourine & Co. is located at 1110 Commercial St. GEARHART — Singer, songwrit- er and multi-instrumentalist Pilar French will perform at the Mc- Menamins Sand Tap Pub from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18. The performance is free, and all ages are welcome. The pub is located at 1157 N. Marion Ave. For more information, call 503-717-8150. French is one of those unex- pected talents who can bowl you over with intelligent, passion- ate songwriting and give you a groove to rock out to. She’s a varied musician, and not just because she plays guitar and bass (depending on the situa- tion): One minute she’s in lounge mode, her voice all silk and smoke, and the next she’s belting out a slightly askew blues tune. French calls it twisted funk ‘n’ blues, but she has an intimate, introspective side as well. She can evoke Mar- lene Dietrich singing Cole Porter, Nicolette Larson, Steely Dan, Ma- ria Muldaur and Sarah McLach- lan, just to name a few. “I do use music to show my emotions but I also try to write thought-evoking music,” French says. “Maybe you read the lyrics and you think it’s about some- thing totally different than I do. Submitted photo Pilar French will perform Friday, Dec. 18 at the McMenamins Sand Trap Pub in Gearhart. Maybe it’s intel-rock-tual, a thinking person’s music. If you want something you can mari- nade on, you can listen to multi- ple times and discover something different every time you listen to it — that’s what my music is.” French, who grew up in the Midwest and went to college in Chicago, has lived in Portland for 13 years. She’s become deep- ly ingrained in the music scene through participation in a vari- ety of bands and musical part- nerships. She started in bluesy, funky bands, including Soul Patrol Mission and Swerve, then spent time with art songstress Kate Mann in Ginger Lovely. French later found herself work- ing with singer Lara Michell (of Carmina Piranha and Dirty Mar- tini) in a Duran Duran tribute band, which led to her joining Michell and Nicole Campbell’s goofy cover band Guilty Plea- sures and One Hit Wonders. French has released three DOEXPV ³%XWWHUÀLHV´ LQ ³$OLYH´ LQ DQG ³'HOLYHU´ LQ³'HOLYHUZDVLQVSLUHGE\ the happier things in life — it fo- cuses on what we have, not what we don’t have,” she says. “The music is noticeably upbeat, and DWRXUVKRZVNLGV¿QGWKHPVHOYHV compelled to dance. This is iron- ic to me, because I was thinking of the children in my life when I wrote some of the songs.” Eat + Drink + be Happy at 3tŝŶƚĞƌ3,ĂƉƉLJ3,ŽƵƌ3;^ƵŶ3Ͳ3dŚƵƌƐͿ333ϮƉŵ3Ͳ3ϰƉŵ333ϴƉŵ3Ͳ3ϭϬƉŵ 3ϭϬ % 3 ĨŽŽĚ3ĚŝƐĐŽƵŶƚ3ĨŽƌ3ůŽĐĂůƐ 3'Ğƚ3ĐĂƐŚ3ďĂĐŬ3ǁŝƚŚ3WŝĐŬůĞĚ3&ŝƐŚ3>ŽLJĂůƚLJ3WƌŽŐƌĂŵ3ƐŝŐŶ3ƵƉ3ĂƚƐǁŝƉĞůLJ͘ĐŽŵͬƉŝĐŬůĞĚĨŝƐŚ3 3Ăƚ34ĚƌŝĨƚ3,ŽƚĞů 3 Ϭϵ3^ŝĚ3^ŶLJĚĞƌ3ƌ3^t͕3>ŽŶŐ3ĞĂĐŚ͕3t4 ϰ 3;ϯϲϬͿ3ϲϰϮͲϮϯϰϰ3ͻ3ƉŝĐŬůĞĚĨŝƐŚƌĞƐƚĂƵƌĂŶƚ͘ĐŽŵ 3KƉĞŶ3ϳ3ĚĂLJƐ3Ă3ǁĞĞŬ͘3ƌƵŶĐŚ͕3,ĂƉƉLJ3,ŽƵƌ͕3ŝŶŶĞƌ3ĂŶĚ3>ĂƚĞ3ŝŶŝŶŐ3 December 17, 2015 | coastweekend.com | 19