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Chef's Secrets: Daughters Café |
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Written by Hannah Hind Photos by Peter Spain Recipes by Barb Giacomini
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Thursday, 01 November 2007 |
Dorothy had it right when she clicked those ruby slippers and uttered those unforgettable words, “There’s no place like home.” This is especially true for us who love the culinary arts; nothing beats cooking in your own home.
At Daughters Café—which occupies the bottom floor of a historic Reno house—this essence of home embraces guests at the door. Café owner and mother, Barb Giacomini, welcomes Renoites to join her and her family for home-cooked meals daily. Giacomini is the magic in the kitchen and her daughters, Skye and Bianca, happily host and serve out front. However, these women did not plan to dance in the winds of café greatness. It was fated, not foreseen.
In 2006, Giacomini was searching to purchase a duplex while she went back to school. Fortuitously, her real estate agent swung Giacomini into a1902 house for a quick peek while they were out looking at other options. The moment Giacomini entered the home, an unexpected die was cast. “Fate grabbed me by the neck and dragged me along,” Giacomini says. She immediately realized that the house was destined to be a café. “It was in my head and heart and here it is,” Giacomini continues, choked up. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I plate like a mom: full square meals. This is more personal than business. I thought I’d learn as I went, but on day one, forty people showed up at the door hungry, and I started cooking. I haven’t stopped. When they peek in the kitchen door and compliment my food, it touches me to the bottom of my heart.”
The welcoming feel of Daughters Café is not the only thing attracting the numbers. The food is a treasure. Giacomini is part Hungarian, part Croatian, a dynamic that beams through her dishes.
During the hotter months of summer and spring is when the Croatian influence comes out most; in fall and winter, the rich comfort of Hungarian cuisine holds a greater presence. Most recipes at Daughters are from Giacomini’s family. Her grandmother passed on her secrets to her daughter, Giacomini’s mom. This culinary gift of the Giacomini daughters is now Giacomini’s to share with her daughters. With a strong line of women, it seems only right that “Daughters” became the name.
Family staples are found on every menu. The birthday breakfast Dutch baby pancakes is a recipe so special, Giacomini’s thirty-year-old son nearly cried when he saw it shared on the restaurant menu. Another is the beignets or French donuts—a New Orleans benchmark that Giacomini developed from many recipes to finally make perfect. Tim Healion, former owner of the Deux Gros Nez, was the first guest to have the very first perfect beignet at Daughters. He’s a self-proclaimed fan for life.
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, the dishes Giacomini chose to share with Nevada Home are some of her wonderful new concoctions meant to warm the tummy. “When I think of winter and fall food,” she says, “I think of comfort at another level.”
A Daughters side dish that is a Thanksgiving staple for the Giacomini family is a rich stew with squash, pumpkin, brussels sprouts, and Italian sausage; a warm and filling mix of color and flavor, ready to complement the garlic mashers and gravy. An exciting twist on tradition: pecan bing-cherry Jell-O fills in for classic cranberry sauce. These diverse new flavors for the holidays match the diverse Daughters regulars. From little old ladies who frequent dessert time and bridge games, to college kids craving a home-cooked meal, to hungry lawyers and cyclists, the chairs are full of happy diners. Daughters Café has a haunting spirit of greatness whispering stories of the past and serving magic daily.
Hannah Hind is a passionate spooner and writer based in Reno.
RECIPES
Beignets
• 1 package dry yeast, little less than 1 tablespoon
• 1 ½ cups warm water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 7 cups of flour
• 3/4 cup of shortening
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Powdered sugar
1. In a mixer bowl, sprinkle yeast over warm water, and stir to dissolve.
2. Add sugar, eggs, and milk, and mix with a dough hook.
3. Add half of the flour, and all of the salt and shortening. Mix well.
4. Add remaining flour and mix to form a sticky dough.
5. Turn out onto a floured surface and shape into a ball.
6. Place the dough in a greased bowl, and turn over to coat.
7. Cover with plastic wrap. 8. Keep in refrigerator until ready to use.
8. Heat 1 to 2 inches of oil to roughly 360 degrees in a large pan.
9. Tear off balls of dough about the size of a large lime, and roll on a floured surface.
10. Roll into a thin circle about 6 inches in diameter, and cut into 4 pieces.
11. Drop the dough into the hot oil and cook for 1 minute on each side.
12. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Savory Fall Stew (serves 4-6) Delicious as a main course or as a side dish!
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 12 ounces hot Italian sausage, cut into chunks
• 12 cipollini or pearl onions, peeled
• 1 ½ cups canned crushed tomatoes
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 handful of herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, or oregano
• 1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 3 carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3 parsnips, cut into 2-inch-long sticks
• 1 fennel bulb, halved, cored, cut into ¼-inch thick slices
• 12 brussels sprouts, trimmed, cut in half
• Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat.
2. Cook sausage for 10 minutes, breaking into smaller pieces until there is no pink showing.
3. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon.
4. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of rendered fat, and discard.
5. Raise heat to medium high and add onions. Cook, stirring until golden, about 8 minutes.
6. Add tomatoes, stock, herbs.
7. Simmer until thick, about 20 minutes.
8. Add sausage, squash, carrots, parsnips, and fennel.
9. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
10. Add brussels sprouts.
11. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
12. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally until liquid thickens, 10 to 15 minutes more.
13. Season with salt and pepper, and serve hot.
Dumplings
• 2 cups flour
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup water (or milk)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
1. Boil 8 cups of water with 1 to 2 tablespoons of salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil.
2. Combine flour, eggs, and salt in a mixer bowl.
3. Add water and beat well until the mixture is gummy. Tip the bowl of dough slightly over the boiling water, and scrape 1 teaspoon of dough at a time into the water.
4. The dumplings will float after a moment.
5. Boil the dumplings for about 5 minutes.
6. Drain dumplings.
7. Serve with sauce poured over dumplings.
Chicken Paprikas (serves 4-6)
Sauce
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• ¾ teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3-4 pounds chicken pieces
• About 2 cups water
• ½ pint sour cream
• Flour to thicken sauce
1. Brown onion in butter.
2. Add chicken pieces and cook until chicken is golden on both sides.
3. Add seasonings and continue cooking for about 10 more minutes.
4. Add enough water to cover chicken, and simmer covered until chicken is tender, about 30 minutes.
5. Remove chicken to platter.
6. Add sour cream to juice in pan and whisk.
7. Add flour ½ cup at a time until sauce is thickened—the consistency of gravy.
8. Chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces and stir into gravy |
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