Politico - 'Cooking with Napas Mike Thompson'
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) is not your standard issue congressman. He owns a vineyard and orchards of olive and fruit trees â€" all of it organic. He's a catch-and-release fly fisherman. He can talk knowledgably about biodynamic farming, has cooked dinner for 350 on a two burner stove and once raised $20,000 for a local charity by cooking two dinners, each for 20 people.
His love of food and wine reflects the district he has represented for 11 years: a stretch of California, from the Oregon border south along the coast to the Sonoma and Napa Valleys. It is some of the most beautiful and wild scenery in the state and includes the untamed wilderness of Mendocino County. (With this turf, no wonder he's co-founder of the Congressional Wine Caucus, which has about 250 members.)
When POLITICO came to dinner, Thompson was running behind, with barely enough time to change from the shirt and tie he wore on the Hill into his cooking attire: jeans and a blue polo shirt. Asked when he had begun the meal he didn't hesitate: “Not long enough ago.”
His staff, however, pulled him through. Staffers vie for a chance to help out because their reward is a great meal complete with an excellent selection of California wines.
“We always like to con Mike into cooking for us,” said an aide.
Thompson has a lifelong interest in food and agriculture. He learned to cook from his grandmother, a first generation Italian-American who lived with Thompson's family. “Food was always a big deal in my house,” he said as he heated up a little nibble: olives warmed in olive oil with thyme, rosemary and garlic, served with a 2006 Bonterra Sauvignon Blanc before dinner. “We took our meals as a family.”
Thompson's grandparents owned vineyards in California. His father was a vineyard manager. He's been sipping wine since he was a child, which he hastens to mention, was with parental approval.
He now owns 20 acres of sauvignon Blanc grapes, which are made into Bonterra wine. “Wine is one of the food groups,” he said while sautéing Swiss chard in olive oil. “As we know now, it's healthy for you.”
He describes his cuisine as California-style. “Natural cooking that uses fresh foods. I try to cook everything local,” he said, though that task is easier in California than in Washington.
In the kitchen, Thompson insists on cooking with copper pots and pans because they hold the heat better. And so the risotto with butternut squash was prepared in a copper pot, just as it would be in Italy.