This week's featured recipes are provided by Vidalia restaurant located in the heart of the Washington, DC central business district.   Vidalia, known for American cuisine with a southern influence, is truly a gem as Project Foodie had the pleasure of experiencing  first hand last month.

The "Pumpkin Cavatelli and Sweetbreads" is an excellent example of the sweetbread renditions popular with Vidalia regulars.  The hand rolled cavatelli with crisp veal sweetbreads, heirloom pumpkin, chanterelle mushrooms and sage butter fondue pair wonderfully with a 2004 Tablas Creek Côte de Tablas.  The Côte de Tablas is a blend of marsanne, roussane, grenache blanc, and viognier from Paso Robles, California. The wine is very balanced and medium to full bodied with apricot and white peach showing. There are also layers of beautiful herbs with hints of spice that come through on the finish perfectly complementing the cavatelli and sweetbreads.

The "Beaver Creek Farm Quail" with chestnuts, wild rice-apple stuffing, boudin blanc, brussel sprouts, blue plum mustard and rosemary demonstrates the complexity of textures and tastes Vidalia is known for.  Vidalia recommends pairing the dish with the 2001 Remelluri Rioja.  This Spanish wine displays ripe plums and earth that beautifully complement the quail and herbs in this dish. The body and smooth tannins of the Remelluri Rioja also stand up to the acid in the mustard. 

Pumpkin Cavatelli and Sweetbreads

with chanterelle mushrooms and sage butter fondue

Serves 4

• 12 oz veal sweetbreads, clean and cut into noisettes
• 1 c heirloom pumpkin or kuri squash cut into small dice and pan roasted
• 4 oz golden button chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned
• 1 tsp shallots, minced
• ½ tsp thyme leaves
• ¼ tsp minced rosemary
• ½ tsp garlic, minced
• 8 oz beurre monté, (see recipe below)
• 1 tsp fresh sage, julienned
• 12 oz cavatelli, cooked (see recipe below)
• 1/4 c parmesan reggiano, shaved
• wondra® flour to dust
• salt and pepper to taste
• canola oil

Season the sweetbreads with salt and pepper and dust with wondra flour. In a medium hot sauté pan add canola oil; when oil is hot, add the sweetbreads and sauté until golden brown on all sides. Remove and place on a paper towel. 

Using another sauté pan over high heat, sauté the chanterelle mushrooms, add shallots, garlic, thyme and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper. Add squash, cavatelli, sage and beurre monte. Toss all together and place in the center of a bowl.

Top the mixture with the sweetbreads and parmesan and serve.

For the Beurre Monté

• water
• 4 T to 1 pound of butter, cut into chunks 

For the Cavatelli

• ¾ lb ricotta, drained
• ¼ lb pumpkin purée
• 2 eggs
• pinch salt
• pinch nutmeg
• pepper
• 4 1/2 cups flour

Place ricotta, pumpkin purée and egg with salt and pepper in a large bowl.  With a fork, beat egg and cheese until well combined.  Place flour on a flat, smooth work surface (preferably wood).  Create a small well in middle of flour.  Pour cheese-egg mixture into well.

Draw some of the flour over the well, mixing it in with a fork a little at a time until egg mixture is no longer runny.  Draw the sides of the mound together with your hands.  Work the mixture together with your fingers and palms until it is smooth and well integrated.

Continue to knead the dough by hand until it is smooth.  If dough seems too moist, just add a little more flour.  At this point, pull away small balls of dough about the size of a nickel.  Pull away about 10 at a time and cover remaining dough with plastic wrap.

Place a dough ball in the palm of one hand and flatten with the other.  Roll out dough, moving hands in opposite directions until it is roughly 3-inches long and about 1/4-inch thick.  Place on a towel.  Repeat process with remainder of dough.  Be careful not to overlap the cavatelli.  Allow pasta to dry for at least 10 minutes.  Sprinkle with flour to keep individual pieces from sticking.

To cook, add cavatelli to soft boiling salted water and cook until the pasta floats to the surface.  Remove and drain immediately.

Store in a cool, dry place until ready to use, up to 24 hours.  To freeze leftover pasta for future use, sprinkle liberally with flour, place in a plastic bag and seal.

Beaver Creek Farm Quail

with chestnut, wild rice and apple stuffing, boudin blanc, brussel sprouts, blue plum mustard and rosemary

By R.J. Cooper III, Chef de Cuisine, Vidalia Restaurant

Serves 4

• 4 ea. bob white quail, boneless
• 1 c cooked wild rice
• 2 oz roasted chestnuts, chopped
• 2 oz dehydrated apples, brunoise
• ¼ tsp rubbed sage
• ½ tsp thyme leaves
• ¼ tsp minced rosemary
• ½ tsp garlic, minced
• 12 ea brussel sprouts, stemmed removed and quartered
  
• 1 tbl applewood bacon finely minced
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 4 ea 2 oz boudin blanc sausages or any fowl sausage
• 4 oz blue plum mustard (see recipe below)
  
• 4 oz quail-rosemary jus
• pork crepinette
• salt and pepper to taste

Remove the breast (french the wing bones) and legs from the carcass of the quail, reserve the carcasses for sauce. 

Mix together wild rice, chestnuts, apples and herbs. Season the breasts with salt and pepper; stuff with the rice mixture and wrap the breasts with crepinette and tie.

In a medium hot sauté pan, pan roast the squab breast, rendering the crepinette,

When finished add boudin and baste until golden brown.

Add bacon to the rendered fat from the quail. Cook until crispy, add brussel sprouts, degrease the pan, add chicken stock and reduce to glaze the sprouts.

Place a dollop of plum mustard on a plate, using the back of a spoon or a small palate knife; spread the mustard to desired thickness. Arrange the quail on one end of the mustard, arrange brussel sprouts on the other end. Place boudin on the brussel sprouts. Drizzle quail jus over the quail and on the plate. 

• 18 ea blue plums, stones removed
• 2 c sugar (less/more to desired sweetness)
• 2 c red wine
• 1 c violet mustard

In a heavy bottom sauce pot, add plums, sugar and red wine. Simmer mixture for 1 hour and purée in a blender. Place back into the pot simmer to reduce to jam consistency, add mustard and cool.

About Vidalia

Vidalia presents regional American cuisine with a subtle southern influence. Favorites of Vidalia regulars include the crab-cakes, the famous shrimp and grits, and their popular renditions of veal sweetbreads. Each presentation is created for a complexity of textures and tastes.  Vidalia frequently changes the menus to indulge in the myriad of local seasonal ingredients. One taste of this cooking and you will understand why Vidalia has garnered both local and national recognition with its modern American cooking delivered with impeccable southern hospitality.