She’S Climbing Another Culinary Mountain
Outside, fluffy flakes poured from the sky last week, doing their part to make the Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort north of Sandpoint look like a winter wonderland.
Inside, the sous chef and a line cook buzzed around the kitchen at The St. Bernard Club, paint brushes in hand.
That’s the drill this time of year as the kitchen crew pitches in to help chef Elissa Robbins gear up for another ski season.
You see, Robbins leads a dual life: working at The St. Bernard on the mountain in the winter, and then at her Floating Restaurant on Lake Pend Oreille each summer.
“It’s what every chef dreams of - having your own business and being able to live in the most beautiful place in the world,” said Robbins, 40.
Robbins, a Missoula native, believes fate brought her to North Idaho.
She has always loved to cook. And as the youngest kid in a family of 10, she heard plenty of advice about how to handle food.
But after years of working in the restaurant business and basically treading water, Robbins decided to get formal training at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.
“I had an advantage going into it as an adult because I took it very seriously,” she said.
Robbins landed a plum post right out of school at the exclusive Alpenhof Hotel in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
“I had a lot of responsibility, but the money was incredible,” she said.
Sky-high housing prices drove her out of that glitzy resort town. That, and a vacation that was destined to change her life.
“I just kind of stumbled onto Sandpoint,” she said.
Visiting friends in the area, Robbins took a fishing charter out of Hope. While talking with the boat’s owners, she revealed that she and her then-boyfriend were chefs looking for a new opportunity. The next morning a real estate broker left a note at their hotel, offering them the chance to buy The Floating Restaurant for a pittance.
That was in 1986, and there have been some lean years in between.
“With a seasonal business, if you don’t make it during the peak time, it’s tough to make it through the rest of the year,” Robbins said. “There have been many times when I thought about throwing in the towel, but I clung on.”
She credits her hard-working crew - especially her sous chef, Kevin Russell - with helping keep her sane. “We really are like a family,” she said. “We always laugh a lot.”
Last summer, an investor bought the marina where the Floating Restaurant is located and took a huge burden off Robbins’ shoulders. Now, she leases the space and doesn’t have to contend with all the problems of owning and maintaining the property. That gives her more time to play with her menus.
This is her fourth season at The St. Bernard. In the winter, the fare is hearty and satisfying - lots of pasta and stews.
“It’s nothing incredibly fancy,” Robbins said.
She’s being modest. Sure, the lineup contains the usual skiier snacks like burgers and fries and pizza. But nightly specials showcase all sorts of innovative seafood dishes: salmon adorned with a sun-dried tomato and kalamata olive butter, fresh sole rolled in bread crumbs and lightly sauteed, calamari tossed with roasted red pepper cream sauce and pasta.
In the summer, Robbins takes full advantage of the fresh local produce.
“There are always peddlers coming by with morel mushrooms in the spring and chanterelles in the fall,” she said.
What she doesn’t use right away, she dries on a cookie sheet on the hood above the grill. “I’ve found those food dehydrators shrivel things up too much,” she said.
What gives her the most satisfaction is putting the whole package together - all of it from scratch.
“I like doing everything, baking breads, making desserts, mixing dressings and making soup,” Robbins said.
One big advantage of being her own boss is the freedom she enjoys to set her schedule. This year, the St. Bernard Club will open on Dec. 26 because, as Robbins simply puts it: “I want to enjoy Christmas, too.”
Mushroom and Herb-Crusted Breast of Chicken
This is the most requested recipe in Robbins’ considerable repertoire.
4 (8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 ounces button mushrooms, finely chopped
2 ounces forest mushrooms (crimini, shiitake, portobello, oyster or chanterelle), finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon EACH fresh tarragon, basil and chives, chopped
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons cold water
About 1/4 cup canola oil
Mushroom Cream Sauce (recipe follows)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Flatten the chicken breasts by placing them between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pounding gently with a kitchen mallet or the side of a sturdy saucer.
Combine chopped mushrooms, garlic, shallot, herbs and bread crumbs. Dip chicken in egg wash and roll in bread crumb mixture, coating each piece thoroughly.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute chicken until golden on both sides (do not scorch). Transfer to baking dish (if not using an ovenproof skillet) and bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Serve with mushroom cream sauce.
Yield: 4 servings.
Nutrition information per serving (including mushroom cream sauce): 856 calories, 46 grams fat (48 percent fat calories), 26 grams carbohydrate, 77 grams protein, 327 milligrams cholesterol, 2 grams dietary fiber, 386 milligrams sodium.
Mushroom Cream Sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
4 ounces chopped mushrooms (button mushrooms, or a mixture of button mushrooms and forest mushrooms)
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and white pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, chopped
Saute garlic, shallot and mushrooms in butter over medium heat until wilted. Add wine and bring to a boil, stirring to loosen browned bits in pan. Reduce heat to low; slowly add cream and cook until thickened. Strain through fine sieve. Discard mushroom mixture and serve sauce over chicken breasts.
Yield: 4 servings.
Nutrition information per serving: 246 calories, 22 grams fat (80 percent fat calories), 7 grams carbohydrate, 2 grams protein, 82 milligrams cholesterol, 26 milligrams sodium.