Downtown Sacramento is where you'll find Chef Ed Roehr, a founding partner of Magpie Café. The business started in 2005 as a catering company focused on seasonal and local foods. Magpie has since grown to become a restaurant on Sacramento's R Street Corridor and to include Yellowbill Café Bakery. Locals drop by to get fresh, gourmet food and baked goods at affordable prices.

Roehr has spent nearly his entire life in the kitchen, working in Hawaii, New York, and Italy (to name a few). He has now made it full circle and is a well-respected chef working in his hometown.

Ed is a supporter of the farm-to-fork movement in Sacramento, and he shared one of his favorite citrus recipes with us with. The Meyer lemons used in the recipe come from Twin Peaks Orchards in Newcastle, Calif.

Risotto with Meyer Lemon and Braised Fennel
Magpie Café

3 1/2 cups of light vegetable stock

1 Tablespoon of chopped shallots

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup of white wine

1 cup of Arborio rice (Magpie uses Lundberg Family Farms)

1 braised fennel bulb (1/2 wedges and ½ chopped)

1 cup freshly grated aged cheese

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons fresh Meyer lemon juice

2 teaspoons of zested Meyer lemon peel

1 tablespoon of fennel fronds

7 Meyer lemon half-moons, browned in a sauté pan


Simmer stock.

Slowly cook shallots in olive oil.

Add rice.  Mix into shallots and olive oil.

Add wine, stir until dry.

Add 1 cup of stock. Simmer. 

Slowly add remaining stock over the next 25 minutes, until the rice approaches a porridge.

Add chopped, braised fennel bulb. Stir.

Add aged cheese, butter, lemon juice and lemon zest. Stir.

Season with pepper and salt. Taste.

Put in a bowl and garnish with Meyer lemon half-moons, fennel wedges and fennel fronds.

 

Magpie Café
1409 R Street, Suite 102
Sacramento, CA 95811
916-452-7594
http://www.magpiecaterers.com/cafe

Yellowbill Café Bakery
1425 14th Street, Suite C
Sacramento, California 95814
916-668-7514
http://yellowbill.com/
 

Sacramento is America's farm-to-fork capital, and other chefs recently shared their local recipes with us as we prepare to celebrate the movement with Farm-to-Fork Week, Sept. 21 - 29, 2013.