Julia – Page 9 – Grow. Cook. Eat.

January 6, 2011

Money, Money, Money

I’m not superstitious. But as I look to grow my business, I’ll explore every tool possible – from a sound marketing plan to feng shui to the foods I eat.

According to the tenets of Feng Shui, the southeast corner represents wealth. The jade plant with its flat, round leaves that resemble coins, symbolizes prosperity. Placing a jade plant in the southeast corner of your office is the ultimate way to attract wealth.

For food, cooked greens resemble folded money, spring rolls gold bars and clams look like coins. As we turn the corner to a new year, now seems the ideal time to incorporate some of these wealth generating foods into my diet.

Happy New Year! I hope it’s filled with prosperity, health, good fortune and joy.

From the garden: tomatoes

Clams with Red Chili Sauce
(Adapted from The Chinese Kitchen )

4 tsp. chili-garlic sauce
1 tbs. soy sauce
½ tsp. rice vinegar
2 tbs. Shao-Xing Wine
½ tsp. salt
1 tbs. sugar

2 dozen little neck clams
¼ cup shao-xing wine
1 tbs. plain oil
1 ½ tsp. chopped ginger
1 ½ tsp. chopped garlic
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 – 10 oz. can tomatoes
1/8 tsp. salt
3 scallions – cut into rounds

1.    In a bowl combine ingredients for sauce: chili-garlic sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, wine, salt and sugar.
2.    Wash clams thoroughly. Put in a pot with ¼ cup of shao-xing wine. Cover and cook over high heat until the clams start to open. Remove them from the pan as they open as to not overcook them. Reserve the clams and discard the cooking liquid. The clams may give off more juice – save that to add to the sauce.
3.    In a skillet or sauce pan, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the ginger, garlic and onions and cook for 1 minute or until they soften. Add tomatoes and salt and cook for 5 minutes more.
4.    Toss the clams (and any juice that may have accumulated) into sauce and sprinkle with scallions.
Serve immediately.

January 3, 2011

R&D (Recipe: Braised Green Cabbage with Apples)

As I look at my year end finances – evaluating how my business did, I’m thrilled to see the spike in net income. As a matter of pride, I want my net income to be as high as possible, but as a savvy business owner, I should minimize my earnings as much as possible – after all, it’s the net income that I will use to calculate my tax burden.

The tax codes are tricky when it comes to writing off meals as a business expense. For most people, meals are part of entertaining clients or business travel. You can only deduct 50% and the purpose of the meal needs to be well document.

For me, eating out and cooking at home are all part of R&D… menu development and recipe testing. And as I embark on another cookbook for Sauchuk Farm, I'm exploring every avenue for inspiration.

Last week, I went out for dinner at Oleana; they had grilled celery as an accompaniment to a grilled rib-eye steak. Knowing that I would need a few celery recipes for the upcoming book, I *needed* to order a side dish. Alas, the dish was mediocre at best. The grill did not impart enough smoke, nor did it tenderize the stalks. The celery flavor was intense and not even a healthy dose of parmesan cheese could balance it.

Then at the market last week, while I was pondering what to cook for dinner, I noticed green cabbage – another vegetable for which I'll need new recipes.

Cabbage harvests start in September and last through the first frost. I’ve seen many recipes that stew tomatoes with cabbage (think stuffed cabbage), but the seasonal timing just didn’t seem right to me.

When I got home with the groceries, I noticed an apple withering on the counter. Seasonally, they are a match made in heaven, and when I cooked them together, the worked very well on the plate too!

Braised Green Cabbage with Apples
1 small head of green cabbage
1 apple
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
2 tbs. butter
¼ cup cider – still, sparkling or slightly spiked (5% alcohol content)
Salt and pepper to taste
1.    Cut the cabbage in half and cut out the core. Cut into 1 inch chunks
2.    Peel the apple (though not necessary). Peel and chop the onion. Chop the garlic clove.
3.    In a large skillet, over medium heat, melt the butter.   Add the onions and garlic and cook for 3 minutes, just until they soften.
4.    Add the cabbage and apple. Cook for a few minutes, stirring to mix well. Add the cider and cover the pan.
5.    Cook over medium low heat for 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

December 28, 2010

Shock Value (Recipe: Ankimo with Ponzu Sauce)

If chicken feet were as pedestrian as chicken wings, I probably wouldn’t like them as much as I do. I only eat them when I’m out for dim sum. Half the fun is watching the look of surprise in the waiters’ eyes when I order them. They glance at me sideways, questioning if I really know what I’m getting myself into. I nod eagerly, “yes, yes, please.” The other half of the fun is gnawing around the bones and then spitting them out with my chopsticks – completely acceptable behavior in Chinatown. The chicken feet don’t have much flavor beyond the sauce they are cooked in.

Ankimo may not have the same shock value as chicken feet, but it certainly elicits similarly odd reactions. I’ve taken to calling it monkfish “foie gras” instead of liver to minimize people’s discomfort. It doesn’t taste fishy or liver-y – just like duck foie gras doesn’t taste of duck. It’s just rich, creamy goodness. And I like monkfish liver, shock value or not.

You won’t see the liver until winter, when the water temperatures drop and the liver fattens up. Then you can find it at sushi bars and fish-markets. Though all the Japanese markets in Cambridge have closed in the last few years, I can still find ankimo at New Deal or Capt. Marden’s by special order.

Traditionally, the liver is formed into a cylinder, steamed and then served with grated daikon and chilies. I poach it in dashi – a cook it slightly under-done. I’m told I shouldn’t do this, but the texture is a bit creamier and I like the flavor a bit better. I serve it in Japanese soup spoons for an hors d’oeuvre, or in little bowls as an appetizer. Either way, I garnish it with Ponzu sauce, scallions, wakame seaweed and cucumbers.

Ankimo with Ponzu
1 pound monkfish liver.
1 3” piece of kombu
½ cup bonito flakes
¼ cup soy sauce
3 cups water
Ponzu sauce
1 tsp. Dried wakame
1 small cucumber, sliced thin (or radishes)
2 scallions, cut into thin rounds

Put monkfish liver in a pot with the kombu, bonito flakes, and soy sauce. Add enough water to cover. Over a medium heat, bring the pot to a simmer, remove the kombu, and continue to simmer for a minute. Remove from heat and let liver cool in the liquid.

While the liver is poaching, soak the dried wakame in cold water. It will explode in size, so make sure you have it in a decent sized bowl.

When liver is cool, but in the refrigerator to completely chill.

Slice thin pieces and serve with ponzu, cucumber slices, wakame and scallions.

December 22, 2010

Flattery (Recipe: Quinoa with Brussels Sprouts)

Charles Caleb Colton said “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” If you ask me, receiving a call from an old client requesting more work is far better.

And so it happened, last week I received an email from Sauchuk Farm requesting that I create a new cookbook for their 2011 growing season.

Last year, I started ghost-writing cookbooks for farms looking for a new way to connect with their customers. For the CSA farms especially, these cookbooks were especially helpful. Each week the subscribers would receive a boxful of produce – sometimes with familiar items but not always. And often, the customer would get a glut of greens one week or tomatoes another. The cookbooks offered a way for the consumers to learn about the produce they were getting every week, with descriptions of how to handle the food, storage tips and recipes – which proved particularly useful when the customers were up to their eyeballs in Swiss chard.

The second volume for Sauchuk Farm will be a bit more challenging as I’ve used up my larder of recipes for the particularly difficult vegetables. Sure, I can write recipes for tomatoes until the cows come home, but recipes for kohlrabi, kale, Brussels sprouts and chard will be a bit more difficult.

As luck would have it, just after I received the order for new cookbooks, I went out for dinner at Union Bar and Grille and had a wonderful side dish of quinoa and Brussels sprouts.

The next night, I replicated the dish. And then two nights later I made it again, but with bacon. It’s really simple, but very satisfying in a light way.

Quinoa with Roasted Brussels Sprouts
It’s very important to rinse quinoa before cooking as the grains have a bitter reside on them that comes from processing.

½ cup quinoa
½ pound brussels sprouts
2 tbs. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, sliced thin or chopped
½ lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

1.    Rinse quinoa under cold water. Put in a small saucepot, and cover with water. Add 1 tsp. salt. Cover the pot and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until quinoa has popped and is cooked through.
2.    Cut Brussels sprouts in half and then slice thin.
3.    Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add the olive oil, and let heat for 1 minute. Add the garlic and cook for 3 minutes or until aromatic. Add the Brussels sprouts and cook, stirring regularly, until they are bright green and soft. Remove from heat.
4.    When quinoa is cooked, drain excess water. Toss with Brussels. Add juice from ½ lemon and season to taste with salt and pepper.

December 20, 2010

Farmers and Chefs: Working Together

Last week I attended a farmer to farmer conference put on by the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project. During the lunch break, I listened in on a conversation between two farmers discussing the challenges of selling to restaurants.

Given that my background is in restaurants, I understand the challenges of the chef. It is certainly easier to purchase meats and produce from just a few vendors (like Russo's for produce and Kinnealey for meats) rather than sourcing from individual farmers. Farmers typically don't have a sales person to answer phone calls, answer questions and take orders. And the farmer cannot always guarantee they will have enough produce to fill the order completely.

Despite the challenges, chefs still want to buy from small local farmers because they want to support the local economy, the environment, and most importantly, they know the quality will be superior.

Here are several ways chefs can approach farmers to create a more sustainable vendor- relationship:

Know that availability of any given product is never guaranteed. Write flexibility into your menus.
Both farmers and restaurateurs work within very thin margins. Farmers cannot always afford to give price breaks. If discounted pricing is important, ask for "seconds." Typically these are vegetables that have some blemishes to them.
If uniformity in the vegetables is important, let the farmer know.
Farmers are willing to grow specialty crops for loyal customers. Let them know in January what you would like for the spring and summer menus so they have time to plan. Be prepared to purchase the entire harvest in order to foster the relationship.
Understand what is seasonal for your region. For example, tomatoes don't come onto the market until mid- to late- July and strawberries are available in the spring.

Similarly, farmers need to understand the constraints of the chef:

If you are unable to fulfill an order, let the chef know as soon as possible, and be prepared with alternative options.
Understand how to prepare and cook your vegetables, so when you have an unusual crop, you can offer suggestions to the chefs.
Sort crops into #1s and #2s. For the chef that needs picture-perfect vegetables, you can offer the better looking crops at a higher price. For the chef that needs a better price, you can offer the less pristine looking vegetables that may require more creative uses, prep and/or trimming.

What strategies have you used to enhance relationships between farmers and their customers?

December 17, 2010

Farmer Friendships (Recipe: Swordfish, Parsnip Puree with Vanilla Saffron Sauce)

If you are friends with a farmer, you know the only way to spend time with them is to visit them on their farm, and follow them around the fields as they tend to their crops and livestock. I learned this long ago when I became friends with Brett. While cultivating a friendship, I also learned how to save seed; “process” chicken, turkeys and pigs; sort tomatoes; and plant and harvest all sorts of vegetables.

Perhaps similar to working in a kitchen, there’s always something to be done – vegetables need harvesting, fields need weeding or irrigating, plants need staking, and of course produce needs to be sold. In the winter, the chores perhaps are not as time-sensitive, but the list is still long.

It was no surprise when I visited the O’Dwyers in November at their farm (Langwater Farm) that I would have minimal time to talk with them before the chores began to call. They just finished their first season of cropping on 5 acres in North Easton, and by all counts they had a highly successful season. As they plan for the next season, they are busy building two new greenhouses, clearing fields and developing strategies to finance new, labor-saving equipment.

The farm-stand is still open and well stocked with lots of leafy greens, cruciferous veggies and roots. I picked up some romenesco cauliflower, just because it looked so cool, and a bag of parsnips.

Perhaps not the best way to showcase the parsnips, but an exceptional dish… is a variation on Thomas Keller’s Recipe… The combination of parsnip, vanilla and saffron will knock your socks off. Really.

Seared Swordfish with Parsnip Puree, Vanilla Saffron Sauce and Wilted Spinach

4 swordfish filets – approximately 6 oz. each
1 lb. parsnips
1 cup cream
1 lb. spinach
1 orange zested
½ vanilla bean
¼ tsp. saffron
¼ cup wine
½ cup chicken stock
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 shallot, diced
1 tbs. butter
plain oil
salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste

1. Make parsnip puree: Peel parsnips, and cut into chunks. Put in a pot of cold, salted water. Bring to a boil, cook until tender. Drain parsnips (reserving about 1 cup of liquid), and puree with ½ cup heavy cream, and cooking liquid as necessary. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

2. Prepare the spinach: Heat a large skillet. Add 1 tsp. of oil. Sauté garlic with orange zest for one minute. Add spinach, and cook until wilted, about w minutes. Remove from heat and set aside

3. Make the sauce: Heat butter in a sauce pan. Add shallots, and cook for 2 minutes, or until soft. Add saffron and vanilla. Deglaze with white wine. Reduce until 1 tbs. of liquid remains. Add cream and chicken stock. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

4. Cook the swordfish: Heat a large skillet. Season char with salt, pepper and a generous squeeze of lemon juice. Add oil to the pan, and cook the fish until golden brown. Turn over and cook through, 2 – 3 minutes depending on the thickness of the filet.

5. Serve swordfish with parsnip puree, spinach and sauce.

December 15, 2010

Spanish Highlights (Recipe: Chick Pea Spaetzle with Kale and Jamon)

One of the first questions friends asked when I returned from Spain was “What was the best thing you ate?”

I’m not good with that question, though I was able to narrow down 30 meals (and countless dishes) into a top three list.

Easily, the first meal made the list… I arrived in Fuengirola, a non-descript resort town on the Mediterranean Sea at 1pm after 14 hours of travel. Bleary-eyed and jet-lagged, I knew I the best thing would be to stay awake until at least 10 pm. But all I could manage was a walk along the beach (and I also discovered that napping on the beach is much better than napping in a dark hotel room). Along the beach promenade, I stumbled into a little café displaying impeccably fresh fish. I ordered fried whitebait with lemon. Whitebait is not a specific fish, but a generic term for small, slivery fish that could be fresh (uncured) herring, smelts or anchovies. They are served whole as their size makes the entire fish – from head to tail - edible. These fish were crispy without being greasy, and had a bright taste of lemon that tamed the richness of the fish. With the bright sun, refreshing sea breezes and a crisp glass of white Rioja, I was in heaven.

The second on the list came from a Michelin one-star restaurant in the hill-top town of Ronda. Tragabuches serves multi-course tasting menus in a simply elegant dining room just off the main square. Slowly coddled egg yolk with egg-white foam and cock’s comb were topped with a whiff of truffle. The cock’s comb had the texture of meaty mushrooms – tender, earthy yet firm.

By the time I arrived in Barcelona, a week into my travels, my body craved vegetables. As much as I tried to get my “5-a-day” through the course of my travels, it was not as easy as I would have liked. I picked up fruit at one of the farmers’ markets and headed to dinner. I ordered a dish of chick peas and spinach. It had just enough jamon, olive oil and garlic to give it the Spanish flavor, but packed with enough spinach that I actually felt like I did something good for my body. And I loved every bite. So much so that I went back two days later and ordered it again.

When I returned to Cambridge, I decided to make a variation on that dish. I made spaetzle with chick pea flour and tossed it with chick peas, kale (still growing abundantly in my garden) and bits of jamon bellota.

Chick Pea Spaetzle with Kale and Jamon
2 cups chick pea flour
½ – 1 cup of milk
2 eggs
3 tbs. olive oil
Pinch cayenne
3 cloves garlic
1 cup cooked chick peas
1 bunch kale, coarsely chopped
3 slices jamon or prosciutto, coarsely chopped

Salt pepper and lemon juice to taste.

1.    Make the spaetzle batter: Sift together the flour, salt and cayenne. Whisk in the eggs, 1tbs. olive oil and milk. If the batter is too stiff, add more milk. You want the consistency of pancake batter.
2.    Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season generously with salt.
3.    Meanwhile, heat the remaining olive oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic. When it becomes fragrant, add the ham. Cook for 1 minute before adding the kale and chick peas. Cook until the kale is bright green and wilted. Season with lemon, salt and pepper. Set aside.
4.    When water is boiling, push spaetzle dough through a spaetzle maker or a large whole colander. (You may need to cook them in batches, depending on the size of your pot). Wait until they float to the top and cook for 3 minute more. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and add them with the chick-pea/kale mixture.
5.    Reheat just before serving.

December 13, 2010

Walking the Talk

I have worms in my basement, and they’re munching on moldy vegetables and excreting brown liquid. No, this isn’t the premise of a new episode of “Hoarders.” This is my new composting/vermiculture set-up.

My first attempts at composting started in May 2008 when the city of Cambridge initiated a new program to collect food scraps from the residents. They provided free green totes to collect the kitchen waste that we could then empty at either the DPW facility or at the local Whole Foods. Within 48 hours my tote was full. I knew immediately that two things needed to change. First, I was wasting too much food, and second, I needed a compost bin on- premise. Multiple weekly trips to DPW to dispose of my compost just weren’t going to fit into my schedule.

I promptly bought a compost bin for my backyard – the generic black bottomless box that the city sells for a subsidized rate. I could not only toss my food scraps into the bin, but also all the garden debris – pruned shrubs, weeds, leaves, spent vegetables plants, etc.

I have to be honest – I was not as good about composting as I wanted to be. Standing at a measly 5’3”, I had a hard time getting the leverage to reach into the bin and turn the pile – bringing the dirt up from the bottom and burying the newly added compostables to the bottom. I adopted the passive approach to composting – just filling it until it was packed and then waiting a year to take compost from the bottom trap door. At the end of the first summer, the bin filled quickly with the end-of-the-season clean-up, there was no room for my kitchen scraps. And with the snowy winters, it was a bit of a hassle to take things out to the bin anyway.

When Cambridge switched to single stream recycling, I decided to make a more concerted effort to recycle and compost. I signed up for a workshop, for $75 it promised I would learn everything I needed to know (though really, how hard could it be??) and have all the trapping for an indoor vermiculture system.

I walked away with a large plastic tote, with a starter layer of dirt and worms. The worms will eat the mold that forms on the scraps, converting it to compost, and poop out a nutrient rich liquid. The liquid, when diluted with water is an incredible food source for plants. In order to maintain proper moisture in my bin, I will add layers of shredded newspaper.

I cleared a space under the kitchen sink so I could easily access the green tote that would serve as a temporary repository for the food scraps until I carried it to the basement.

(It's filled mostly with old coffee grounds and filters)

Three weeks in, and I feel I finally have a system I can work with. The worm population is thriving in my bin, which is a good sign that I have given them enough food and balanced the moisture properly.

In three months, I will start a second bin, and let the worms finish transforming my waste into nutrient rich soil. When all remnants of food are gone, I will put the “matter” in a plastic bag to kill the worms and initiate the final transition from compost into soil.

November 1, 2010

Creating Financial Statements

Over the last few months, I spoke with micro-lenders – ACCION USA and The Carrot Project. The story is the same, they have capital to lend, but are having trouble finding "qualified" borrowers.

If you are seeking financing to start or grow your business, creating financial projections is paramount. Financial projections are based on historical performance and assumptions of future performance. Potential investors will want to see projected income statements (Profit and Loss), balance sheets and cash flow statements for at least three years.

This information helps lenders evaluate your ability to pay back debt. Obviously, they will look at your cash flow statement to ensure you project enough cash inflow to cover your debt service. Just as important, they will look at your assumptions so they can see how clearly you thought through your business.

When you create financial projections, start with your assumptions. The assumptions of your specific business will vary, but here are some examples of how to think about it:

How much revenue will you earn? Break it down by month, day-part, and/or revenue stream.
What will your expenses be? Break it down as far as you can … detailing each expense by month, day-part and /or revenue stream. Create a sample employee work schedule to outline your labor needs.
What capital equipment will you need?
How long will the start-up take? How much cash do you need to get through the start up phase?
What will be your debt-service? What type of loans or financing will you get?

Once you are clear about your assumptions, you can start building your financial statements. Start with the income statement – detailing revenues and expenses. From the income statement, you can build your balance sheet – outlining what the company has (assets), what they owe (liabilities), and what they own (owner's equity). From your balance sheet you can build your statement of cash flows – to track cash inflows and outflows from operating, investing and financing activities.

Be sure to create your financial statements in a way so you can test your assumptions. For example, what happens if your food cost is 35% instead of 30%? Does your business model fall apart, or can it withstand the increased expense? What happens if revenues fall short of your expectations? Again, can your business model support this shortfall?

Your investors will want to know your business can survive through conservative estimates. And you will have the peace of mind knowing that you have room to breathe should there be an unforeseen circumstance.

October 28, 2010

No Bones About It (Pasta with Crabs and Tomatoes

So much flavor comes from the bones of meat, fish and the shells of crustaceans. Resourceful chefs learned this long ago, and reserve what otherwise might be discarded to make flavorful stocks and sauces.

Many recipes suggest cooking meat and fish on the bone as another way to preserve some of that flavor. Though, most bones aren’t palatable, they are easily removed (and discarded) once a dish is cooked. With a roast chicken, for example, you can just carve the meat off the bone before serving.

With lobster, crabs and shrimp, I’ve seen chefs cook them first, remove the meat and then use the shells to make a stock. While this maximizes every ounce of flavor, it requires many steps – cooking the lobster separately, then making the stock, and then using the stock to flavor a sauce.

A few weeks ago, whilst visiting a friend on the eastern shore of Maryland, I saw an ingenious way of simplifying this process. He put live crabs in a skillet, toasted the shells and then added the remaining ingredients for his sauce. The crab meat had the benefit of being cooked in the shell and the sauce had the benefit of crab shells cooking in that. Brilliant!

When the crabs were cooked, he removed them from the sauce, shelled the meat and added it back. This technique would work well with any shellfish.

Pasta with Tomato-Crab Sauce

4 live blue crabs
1 tbs. canola oil
1 tbs. chopped garlic
1 small onion or shallot, peeled and chopped
¼ cup white wine
2 cups chopped or jarred tomatoes
1 tbs. butter
1 tbs. fresh basil
Salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste
¾ pound fettucine

Scrub the crabs clean under cold water. Dry on a paper towel.
Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add the oil and then the crabs, upside down. Let the crab shells toast in the oil for a few minutes.
Add the onions and garlic to the crab pan and cook for 2 minutes until they begin to soften. Then add the white wine and tomatoes. If the pan seems dry, add 1/3 cup of water too.
Cover the pan and let the crabs steam for about 10 minutes. Remove crabs from pan, making sure to scrape off and save the tomatoes.
Let the crabs cool and remove the meat.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta for 1 minute less than the package instructions
While pasta is cooking put the crab meat back in the tomato sauce. Add a pat of butter, basil. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
When pasta is done, drain all the liquid except ¼ cup. Toss pasta with sauce.

Serve immediately.

Special thanks to Daniel for taking photos, and to Richard and Michael for an amazing meal and weekend!