Obama faces storm over VA

BUSINESS, B7
Why home
sales in Central
Texas flattened
in April
FOOD & LIFE, D1
Relish Austin:
‘Hip Girl’s’ tips
for keeping the
kitchen mojo
YOUR WEATHER, B10
FOOD & LIFE, D1
TEXAS FLAVOR
NEW COOKBOOK MARRIES
LONE STAR WINES, DISHES
Today
Morning clouds, then
partly cloudy. 88/69
Thursday: Morning clouds. 88/70
Friday: Morning clouds. 88/70
Saturday: 10% chance of rain. 87/70
Sunday: Mostly cloudy. 83/68
$1.00
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Breaking news at statesman.com
NEW DETAILS VETERANS AFFAIRS
Obama faces storm over VA
Growing controversy over veterans hospitals opens
him up to questions about his ability to govern.
By Michael D. Shear
and Jonathan Weisman
New York Times
IN THE NEWS
Bomb blasts kill
118 in Nigeria
Two car bombs at a bus
terminal and market in
the city of Jos wound
dozens and leave
bloodied bodies amid
flaming debris. A2
NATION & WORLD
Secret drone-strike
memo to be revealed
The White House will
release a memo that
describes justification
for using drones to kill
U.S. citizens suspected
of terrorism. A3
Military: The Pentagon
considers enlisting
immigrants who arrived
in the U.S. illegally. A2
Spying: Chinese hackers
used simple email ruses
on U.S. companies,
officials say. A4
METRO & STATE
A new name for
Auditorium Shores?
Mayor Lee Leffingwell
wants to rename a
portion of Auditorium
Shores after Vic
Mathias, who served as
CEO of the Chamber of
Commerce for nearly 30
years. B1
New details: Firefighters union plans
suit over city-approved
consent decree. B1
BUSINESS
General Motors
recalls 2.4 million
more vehicles
The latest action brings
the total of vehicles to
13.6 million recalled this
year. B7
Technology: Microsoft
debuts new, larger
version of Surface
tablet. B7
Business
Deaths
Food & Life
Sports
B7
B4
D1
C1
To subscribe to the
American-Statesman,
call 445-4040 or visit
statesman.com/subscribe.
Vol. 143 No. 300
© 2014, Austin American-Statesman
WASHINGTON — The White
House fought on Tuesday to
contain the growing political
furor over allegations of misconduct at the nation’s veterans hospitals as Republicans
cited the reports as new evi-
CONTINUING
COVERAGE
UT SYSTEM TUITION
dence that President Barack
Obama is unable to govern effectively.
Rob Nabors, the president’s
deputy chief of staff, will fly
to the veterans medical facility in Phoenix on Wednesday to assess the most damning reports: that government
workers falsified data or created secret waiting lists to
In 2008, as
a candidate,
Obama vowed
to confront
“the broken
bureaucracy of
the VA.”
hide the long delays veterans
faced before seeing doctors.
The president is also dispatching Denis McDonough,
his chief of staff, to Capitol
Hill on Wednesday to consult
with the chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Sen. Bernie Sanders, a
Vermont independent.
Lawmakers are working on bipartisan legislation
that would give veterans officials greater authority to fire
those responsible at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The House is expected to vote
Wednesday on a bill and the
Senate is expected to hold
Obama continued on A8
INFORMING VOTERS LT. GOVERNOR RACE
In-state After heated campaign,
tuition debate surprisingly cool
at UT
frozen
Board also votes to
curb regent’s ability
to access information.
By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
[email protected]
In-state students at University of Texas System academic campuses won’t see an increase in tuition and mandatory fees during the upcoming
school year.
Nudged by Gov. Rick Perry, UT System regents voted unanimously Tuesday
to hold the line on academic charges as system officials
work on a plan to tap the Permanent University Fund for
extra money that the proposed tuition and fee increases would have generated for the Austin campus and
eight others.
Paul Foster, Board of Regents chairman, said that
Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa likely would offer a plan
in August for increasing withdrawals from the multibillion-dollar endowment. Foster declined to discuss details, but any such plan is almost certain to involve some
creative accounting because
of a constitutional prohibition on using Permanent University Fund proceeds for operations, except at the Austin campus and the system administration.
The regents also approved
Tuition continued on A8
State Sen. Dan Patrick (right) speaks about the Texas death penalty as Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst waits
Tuesday night during a debate between the Republican rivals for lieutenant governor at Tenroc Ranch in
Salado. RICARDO B. BRAZZIELL / AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Dewhurst, Patrick keep things civil,
issue-oriented in tea party forum.
MORE INSIDE
By Jonathan Tilove
[email protected]
Wendy Davis
Greg Abbott
» Governor race: Wendy Davis
wants six debates, but Greg
Abbott says two is the limit, B1
» Attorney general race:
Finance reports show money battle between Ken Paxton,
Dan Branch, B1
SALADO — State Sen. Dan Patrick told a Central Texas Tea
Party forum Tuesday night
that embattled University of
Texas System Regent Wallace
L. Hall Jr. ought not be impeached for what Patrick described as Hall’s well-warranted efforts to ferret out the undue influence some legislators have allegedly used to get
friends and relatives into the
UT School of Law over better-qualified candidates.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst
sidestepped the question, saying that he needed to maintain his neutrality in the event
that an impeachment of Hall
by the House leads to a trial
in the Senate, over which the
lieutenant governor presides.
But Patrick scoffed at that raDebate continued on A10
CENTRAL TEXAS WATER SUPPLY
LCRA finds partner in search for more water
Work with Guadalupe
authority could lead
to joint pipe project.
By Asher Price
[email protected]
Two of Central Texas’ major public water suppliers are
poised to work together to expand their supplies amid an
unrelenting drought.
The board of the Lower Colorado River Authority, which
doles out water from the
Highland Lakes for more than
a million Central Texans, will
likely approve an agreement
Wednesday to do preliminary
water planning with the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, which supplies water to
the fast-growing areas of Bu-
da, Kyle, San Marcos, Lockhart and Luling.
No specific deals and no
money are involved at this
point. The general manager of
the GBRA said the most likely collaboration would be a
joint pipe project from a vast
aquifer that stretches beneath
Bastrop, Lee and other counties to the eastern flank of the
greater Austin area.
Even if the partnership
leads to nothing, the willingness of the river authorities
to collaborate at all suggests
how the drought has driven anxious water officials to
think creatively.
For years, GBRA General
Manager Bill West has sought
a partner on water projects.
Water continued on A8
D Food&Life
+Classifieds
FOOD MATTERS
Worthy
causes,
one bite
at a time
Let’s Big Chipper
cookie sales benefit
local nonprofits.
By Addie Broyles
[email protected]
Karen Davis’ heart is as big
as her chocolate chip cookies.
The Round Rock baker
launched Let’s Big Chipper
last year as a way to combine
her passions for sweet treats
and social entrepreneurship.
She and her husband, Michael, had always baked cookies to raise money for organizations that their kids were involved in, but as they got older, the Davises decided to
commit to making cookies
that could make a difference.
A dollar from every $3 cookie
sold at fundraising stands and
events goes to a different nonprofit every month, or customers on larger orders can
pick a cause of their choice.
In recent months, they’ve
partnered with area businesses to raise money for Texas
4000’s Atlas bike ride, Footprints Children’s Grief Ministry, Share Our Strength and
Mobile Loaves and Fishes.
Davis says she’d like to
have a retail outlet one day,
but for now, office deliveries, birthday parties and catered events are the most sizable part of their business. In
addition to the signature oversized chocolate chip cookie,
Davis makes cookies stuffed
with Oreos, brownies or Reese’s Cups, as well as smaller
cookies called Little Dippers.
You can order the cookies
for delivery — in flavors such
as oatmeal and roasted pecan,
orange with white chocolate,
chocolate and peanut butter,
gluten-free or original
chocolate chip — online at
letsbigchipper.com or
by emailing letsbigchipper
@aol.com. Trays of cookies start at $22 for two dozen, with $5 going to charity or
nonprofit.
Food Matters continued on D3
Let’s Big Chipper delivers oversized
chocolate chip cookies for $22
for two dozen. Five dollars goes to
charity. CONTRIBUTED BY KAREN DAVIS
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
News: [email protected] or 512-445-3690
Subscribe: statesman.com/subscribe
Find out what’s
happening
today in the
Planner, D2
Michael
Barnes on the
week’s parties.
Thursday in Life
Make this weekend
MEMORABLE
Ross Burtwell’s bacon-wrapped jalapeno-stuffed quail pairs well with Grape Creek Vineyard’s Cabernet. CONTRIBUTED BY JENNIFER WHITNEY
Cabernet
Grill
cookbook
makes
the case
for Texas
wines
Arianna Auber
Liquid Austin
Grapefruit buttermilk pie.
Tarragon shrimp scampi. Bacon-wrapped jalapeño-stuffed
quail.
These seemingly unrelated foods have a few things in
common. They all have Texas-grown ingredients. They
all feature flavors of the region. And they are all recipes
in Fredericksburg chef Ross
Burtwell’s new cookbook, many based on popular menu
items in his Cabernet Grill
Texas Wine Country Restaurant.
But if you’re planning to
fire up the grill this weekend
and try any one of the 131 recipes in “Texas Hill Country
Cuisine: Flavors from the Cabernet Grill” (Creative Noggin
Press, $34.95), you can’t forget that food isn’t the only key
Cabernet Grill owner and
executive chef Ross Burtwell’s
new cookbook,“Texas Hill
Country Cuisine,” showcases
popular recipes from the
restaurant that often pair well
with Texas wines. CONTRIBUTED BY
STEVE RAWLS
component of a meal.
It’s also what you’re drinking. For Burtwell, that means
not just wine, but Texas-made
wine. His 12-year-old restaurant has served a Texas-only
wine list since 2007, the largest of its kind at any restaurant in the state — an impressive feat even though, at last
count according to the cookbook, there are 273 Texas win-
eries from which to choose.
The Cabernet Grill boasts a
wine list of 90 different offerings from 31 state wineries,
and the wines are constantly swapped out as the adventurous vineyards and wineries here experiment with different blends and types of
grapes, from Tempranillo to
Aglianico.
Burtwell’s support of Texas
wines (the Hill Country in particular, “second only to Napa,
California, as the fastest growing wine region in the United
States,” he notes in the cookbook) means that both locals
and tourists who flock to the
restaurant in Fredericksburg
for the food often leave knowing plenty about the wine.
The cookbook showcases
both — namely all the bold flavors of Hill Country cooking,
rooted in regional influences
such as the Southwest, Mexican and Tex-Mex food, barbecue, Cajun food and farmto-table techniques, and how
they pair with the wide variety of Texas wine.
“What are the hallmarks of
Texas Hill Country cuisine?”
Liquid continued on D8
Recipes for Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeño-Stuffed Quail, Warm Texas Goat Cheese and more. D8
‘Hip Girl’s’ Kate Payne keeps up the kitchen mojo
Addie Broyles
Relish Austin
Kate Payne has 17 kinds of
homemade vinegars in her
kitchen.
Among them are strawberry, blackberry, apple, pear,
peach, concord grape, prickly
pear and cranberry, all made
in Payne’s East Austin kitchen
from fruit as local and freshly
harvested as she could get.
Do-it-yourself projects aren’t just something Payne
does to stock her pantry;
since the 2011 publication
of her first book, “The Hip
Girl’s Guide to Homemaking,”
Payne has been teaching people how to take a more active
role in the environments in
which they live.
The first book focused
on making a house a home,
but in the process of writing it, Payne says she learned
that she had even more to
say about life in the kitchen. Over the past few years,
she’s been gathering those
thoughts into an all-purpose
guide to cooking called “The
Hip Girl’s Guide to the Kitchen: A Hit-the-Ground Running
Approach to Stocking Up and
Cooking Delicious, Nutritious,
and Affordable Meals” (Harper Design, $19.99), which
comes out this week.
Since moving back to Austin after a stint in Brooklyn
about five years ago, Payne
Also inside
» A guide for making
Apple-Scrap Vinegar, D7
Kate Payne, author of“The Hip Girl’s Guide to the Kitchen.” CONTRIBUTED
BY JO ANN SANTANGELO.
has been a regular presence
at local farmers markets and
cooking schools, where she
teaches classes on canning,
preserving and other cooking
projects, including making
your own vinegar.
So, what do you do with all
that fermented fruit? Payne
and her wife, photographer Jo
Ann Santangelo, keep a bottle of a seasonal vinegar by
the stove and store the rest
in the pantry for use in salad
dressings, everyday cooking
or, perhaps most surprisingly,
parties, where they like to set
up a vinegar bar.
Homemade vinegars,
packed with immune system-boosting bacteria and
yeast, are good for sipping
straight, but when served
with some kind of sweetener and a little bubbly water, it
makes an easy transition from
pantry staple to fancy cocktail. (If you’re not ready to
Relish Austin continued on D7
D8
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
| WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2014
WARM TEXAS
GOAT CHEESE
Note: This recipe
calls for using Texas
goat cheese from Pure
Luck Farm and Dairy
and CKC Farms, but you
can use a commercially
produced variety as
well.
David Kuhlken of Pedernales Cellars prepares to start
crushing grapes
Liquid
continued from D1
Burtwell asks in the introduction of the cookbook. “It is food created by people who understand the importance of
combining area-specific, locally grown and produced ingredients — seasonally sourced — and
matching it with Texas-grown grapes and locally produced wines.”
That’s often a tricky
part of preparing any
meal. How do you know
if your dish is going to
match up with the wine?
How can you make sure
they complement each
other rather than clash?
Burtwell has it down
to a simple phrase: “The
bolder the food, the bolder the wine.”
At Cabernet Grill,
though, he doesn’t just
“work out of theory,”
he said in an interview.
He and his staff, all wellversed in the Texas wine
scene thanks to Burtwell and trips out to the
wineries, line up potential pairings right next to
each other, switching out
wines until they find one
that goes with the dish
perfectly. But if you’re
preparing dinner in your
own home, it’s not exactly feasible to buy out the
local liquor store’s Texas
wine selection just to find
the right one.
The cookbook accounts for that. Accompanying some of the recipes are tips on the wines
that should be sipped
with them. For instance,
a salt and pepper chocolate panna cotta is best
with Torre di Pietra Tango Port because, as a general rule, dessert wines
should be sweeter than
the dessert, and a port
fits the bill.
Or, if you’re going to
make an appetizer for
Memorial Day weekend
guests, the warm Texas goat cheese recipe
calls for glasses of chilled
McPherson Cellars Viognier or a Sandstone Cel-
lars red.
“The dry taste and
sweet aroma of white
Viognier complement the
herbal saltiness of this
dish,” Burtwell writes,
“while the long finish of
Sandstone’s reds, particularly V, harmonizes
with the rustic, creamy
cheese.”
Plus, he said, don’t assume that something
doesn’t go with wine.
Get creative. He came
up with one “Texas Hill
Country Cuisine” recipe,
the curried pheasant sausage and apple chowder,
during a wine trail event
with Pedernales Cellars
that required pairing San
Antonio’s Kiolbassa sausage with Pedernales Cellars Viognier. “It’s a good
sausage, but how do you
pair sausage with wine
besides grilling it?” he
said. “I wanted to think
out of the box.”
He first got the idea
to base his Hill Country-style recipes around
Texas wines — “things
that grow together go
together” — in the late
1990s, when he stopped
into a Napa Valley restaurant featuring a bunch
of California wines and
wanted to know more
about one of them.
“I was impressed
that the servers were so
knowledgeable about the
wines,” he said. “I had a
specific question about
one of the wines, and the
waitress said, ‘Well, the
winemaker is sitting right
behind you. Why don’t
you ask him?’ I always
had that at the back of my
mind for when I opened
my own restaurant.”
His cookbook serves
as a solid guide for wine
pairings with both everyday dinners and big holiday weekend feasts, so
even if a winemaker isn’t
dining nearby, you can’t
go wrong. Find it at www.
cabernetgrill.com or at
area bookstores, wineries, tasting rooms and
other shops.
Contact Arianna Auber at
512-445-3630.
1/8 cup sundried
tomatoes, chopped
2 tsp. fresh rosemary,
minced
1 tsp. fresh oregano,
minced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive
oil
1/2 cup kalamata olives,
pitted and chopped
20 or more cloves
roasted garlic
8 oz. Texas goat
cheese
1 long baguette,
sliced and toasted
Preheat oven to 350
degrees.
Mix together sundried
tomatoes, herbs,
olive oil and olives
in a small bowl. Set
aside and allow
to marinate for at
least 15 minutes.
Crumble goat
cheese into ramekins
or a souffle dish. Top
cheese with roasted
garlic cloves, then
the marinated olive
mixture.
Move ramekins to a
baking tray and place
in the oven for 10 to
15 minutes, or until
goat cheese is warm all
the way through. If you
are using a single large
souffle dish, increase
the cooking time and
watch as it bakes to
avoid burning.
Serve warm with
slices of toasted
baguettes. Serves 6-8.
BACONWRAPPED
JALAPEÑOSTUFFED QUAIL
Quail, a feature of
Hill Country dining, has
become so popular
that it’s being farmed
throughout South
Texas and is often
hunted from October to
February. Unless you’ve
harvested your own,
you can usually find it
in the frozen section
of a grocery meat
department, already
semi-boneless with the
tiny ribs removed.
12 semi-boneless
Texas quails
6 small fresh
jalapeños, cut in
half lengthwise
12 strips applewood
smoked bacon
Kosher salt and
freshly ground
black pepper
Maple Chipotle
Sweet Potato Mash
(recipe follows)
2 cups RosemaryRaspberry Sauce,
warm (recipe
follows)
Rosemary sprigs
Stuff each quail with
The jumbo lump crab soup with avocado and coconut curry lime broth, full of Asian
flavors, is an unusual twist on Hill Country dining. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS BY JENNIFER WHITNEY
a jalapeño half. Wrap
quail with a slice of
bacon, securing it to the
bird with a toothpick.
Prepare a grill with
mesquite wood and
bring it to medium-high
heat. Lightly oil the
cooking grate.
Season quail with
salt and pepper, place
it on the grill and cook
for about 5 minutes
on each side, until the
juices from inside the
quail run clear and the
bacon begins to crisp.
Remove toothpicks
from the quail before
assembling the plates.
MAPLECHIPOTLE
SWEET POTATO
MASH
3 lbs. sweet potatoes,
peeled and cubed
6 Tbsp. unsalted
butter
1/4 cup pure maple
syrup
1 Tbsp. canned
chipotles in adobo,
minced
Kosher salt and white
pepper
Place sweet potatoes
in a large saucepan
with enough water
to cover them. Boil
until tender, about 20
to 30 minutes, then
drain completely in a
colander.
Place drained sweet
potatoes in a mediumsize bowl while still hot.
Mash in butter, syrup
and chipotle.
Season with salt and
white pepper.
ROSEMARYRASPBERRY
SAUCE
2 Tbsp. unsalted
butter
2 small shallots,
minced
2 tsp. fresh rosemary,
minced
1 cup Veal Demi-Glace
(recipe follows)
1 cup Fischer &
Wieser Raspberry
Chipotle Sauce
Kosher salt and
freshly ground
black pepper
Heat a small
saucepan over medium
heat and add butter,
shallots and rosemary.
Cook shallots lightly
until they begin to turn
transclucent. Do not
allow them to brown.
Stir in demi-glace
and Fisher & Wieser
Raspberry Chipotle
Sauce, stirring gently
as you heat the mixture
through. Season with
salt and pepper.
VEAL
DEMI-GLACE
2 cups red wine
1/2 lb. white button
mushrooms
2 quarts brown
veal stock (can
substitute chicken
stock instead)
Kosher salt and
freshly ground
black pepper
Place all ingredients
in a saucepan over
medium heat. Skim
occasionally and
cook until the mixture
reduces by two-thirds.
Strain, then season
with salt and pepper.
Dish assembly:
Place a generous
spoonful of MapleChipotle Sweet Potato
Mash in the center of
each serving plate.
Make a shallow well
in the center of the
mashers. Stack 2
quail in the well.Top
birds with a drizzle of
Rosemary-Raspberry
sauce; garnish with
rosemary sprigs. Serves
6.
JUMBO LUMP
CRAB WITH
AVOCADO AND
COCONUT
CURRY LIME
BROTH
1/2 cup yellow onions,
diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
3 Tbsp. fresh ginger,
minced
2 Tbsp. safflower oil
1 1/2 Tbsp. madras curry
powder
2 (13.5 oz.) cans
coconut milk,
unsweetened
1 1/2 Tbsp. freshly
squeezed lime juice
Kosher salt and white
pepper
1 cup jumbo lump blue
crab meat
1 small avocado,
peeled and cut in
quarters
1/2 cup Scallion Coulis
(recipe follows)
In a medium pot over
medium-low heat,
sweat onions, garlic,
shallots and ginger in
oil for about 8 minutes
until translucent, being
careful not to brown
the vegetables.Add
curry powder and saute
briefly until aromatic.
Add coconut milk
and bring to a boil, then
immediately reduce to
simmer and cook for
about 10 minutes.
Add lime juice, then
adjust seasoning with
salt and white pepper.
Strain the onions,
garlic and ginger from
the soup and discard.
Keep soup hot as you
prepare the completed
dish.
SCALLION
COULIS
6 green onions, top
green part only
1 small handful fresh
baby spinach
1/3 cup chicken stock,
warm
Kosher salt and freshly
ground black pepper
Bring about 3 inches
of water to a boil in a
medium-size saucepan.
Prepare an ice bath in
a large bowl by filling it
with ice cubes and cold
water.
Drop the green onions
and spinach into the
boiling water and allow
them to steep for about
30 seconds or until
bright green.
Immediately drain
the onions and spinach
from the boiling water
and plunge them
into the ice bath for a
few seconds to stop
the cooking. Remove
the vegetables to a
colander and allow to
drain.
Once drained,
place the vegetables
in the bowl of a food
processor and add the
chicken stock. Process
until fully pureed.
Adjust seasoning
with salt and pepper.
Dish assembly:
Divide lump crab and
avocado equally in the
bottom of each soup
bowl. Place bowls in
a 350 degree oven
for 3 minutes to heat
the bowls, crab and
avocado. Pour very hot
soup over crab and
avocado. Garnish soup
with the scallion coulis
and serve immediately.
Serves four.
‑ Adapted from “Texas Hill Country
Cuisine” by Chef Ross Burtwell