Grow. Cook. Eat. – Page 16 – Julia Shanks Recovering Chef and Urban Gardener

June 9, 2010

Local Food Systems

The books proliferate. The newspapers cover it, and the movies mainstream it: people want to know where their food comes from, and think more about creating a sustainable food environment. Meanwhile, commercial agricultural has demonstrated to have a profound, negative impact on the environment, some say worse than carbon emissions from cars, airplanes and factories.

The silver lining in our food system is just next door – with the local farmer, food producer and green restaurants.

Local farmers, whether organic or not, tend to use sustainable farming practices: composting, crop rotation and cover-cropping. Further, locally sourced food travels less than 100 miles to reach your table. It tastes better because the fruits and vegetables are left on the vine longer to ripen and spend less time in a truck.

As a business manager, it can be challenging to justify spending more on COGS and other resources, when profit margins are already razor thin. The numbers are just coming in, but several businesses (like Stonyfield Farm) have shown that marketing costs are lower due to a higher quality product and customer loyalty generated.

Here are 10 tips for Supporting the Local Food Systems, Sustainable Agriculture and Local Economy, many of which you can start with today:

1. Purchase produce, meat and fish from local farmers and sources. Commit to increasing locally sourced ingredients by 25%
2. Employ a composting program to turn food waste into fertile soil.
3. Switch from disposable products (like coffee cups and to-go containers) to recyclable or compostable products.
4. For food products not produced in New England, consider using local businesses that import (such as MEM tea and Taza Chocolate).
5. Eliminate convenience products from your menu that use high-fructose corn syrup.
6. Offer filtered water instead of bottled water.
7. Create incentive programs for employees to walk, bike or take public transportation to work.
8. Use environmentally friendly linen services.
9. Have an energy audit to find ways to improve energy efficiency with the equipment already installed in your business.
10. Offer discounts to customers that bike. For more details, click here.

For further assistance in creating a sustainable business, send us an email. We can help you create a plan to support the local economy while growing your business.

Click here to receive my monthly Food Consulting newsletter by email.

June 9, 2010

Half-Baked (Recipe: Chocolate Molten Cake with Minted Berries)

The strawberry production continues in my little urban garden, yielding a handful of berries a day: still not enough for a pie or jam, but certainly a lovely accompaniment to a dessert or salad. And as I pick berries, conveniently located next to the mint patch, I’m reminded of what a lovely combination they are.

I stopped baking in earnest in 1997, when I left my last restaurant job, as a pastry chef. I was never a particularly good baker by professional standards (which would probably explain why I didn’t last long at that job), but managed to hold my own in the circle of home cooks.

The desserts I make today are the same I made 15 years ago… Thankfully, they’re timeless and always in good taste (sort of like the clothes from Eileen Fisher). The chocolate molten cake is a mostly flourless chocolate cake that is intentionally undercooked so the inside is gooey and lava-like.

My favorite garnish for the molten cake is berries tossed with mint, a sprinkle of sugar and a touch of vanilla. The preparation yields a garnish that your guests will actually want to eat, even with commercially grown berries (as opposed to a lone mint sprig or a rock-hard, bland strawberry)

Chocolate Molten Cake

yields: 4 – 6 oz. servings

6 oz. semi sweet chocolate
4 oz. butter (1 stick)
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
2 tbs. flour
extra butter and flour for ramekins.

1. Butter and flour 4 ramekins.

2. In a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter.

3. In a mixer, whip eggs, sugar and salt until tripled in volume

4. Slowly mix in flour and chocolate/butter mixture until well incorporated.

5. Bake at 425 for 12 minutes.

6. Let cakes sit for 1 minute before unmolding.

7. Garnish with minted berries and crème anglaise.

Minted Berries

1 pint strawberries

5 large mint leaves
1– 2 tbs. sugar (depending on the sweetness of the berries and your taste)
1 tsp. vanilla or ¼ vanilla bean.

1. Wash and hull the strawberries. Cut into quarters.

2. Cut the mint into thin strips.

3. Toss the strawberries with mint, sugar and vanilla. Let sit for 30 minutes (or as long as overnight) to let the flavors blend.

4. Serve with your favorite chocolate dessert

June 7, 2010

Summertime and the Living is Easy (Recipe: Artichoke Dip)

Now that I've moved into my summer home, I entertain more. And with the beautiful weather, I want to maximize my outdoor-sunshine time and minimize my indoor cooking prep.

Artichoke Dip is an ideal hors d'oeuvre because I usually have all the ingredients in the pantry — canned artichoke hearts, spinach, parmesan, olive oil and lemon juice. Well, I don't always have spinach in the fridge, but in the garden I have tat-soi, arugula and scallions — all of which would make a fine substitute.

And if you are feeling frisky, as I was the other night, you can drizzle truffle oil on top.

You can serve the dip with either carrot sticks or crackers. Or both.

Artichoke Dip

1 can artichoke hearts, drained
1/2 cup spinach leaves (or arugula, tat soi, or scallions — any leafy green will do)
2 tbs. freshly grated Parmesan (Reggiano if possible)
3 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste
Truffle oil (optional)

In a food processor, put artichoke hearts, spinach and parmesan. Pulse until well combined. With motor running drizzle in olive oil. Season to taste with salt, pepper and a few drops of lemon juice.

Before serving, drizzle truffle oil on top.

June 4, 2010

My Summer Home

Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer… and I took the opportunity to open up my summer home.
It’s more spacious and airy than my “winter” home. Let me give you a tour…

The Foyer with kale, strawberries and beets flanking the corridor…

The Living Room adorned with garlic shoots and tomato plants…

The Dining Room….

The kitchen is definitely more basic than my winter kitchen…

But the pantry is definitely well-stocked with plenty of fresh herbs.

June 2, 2010

Berry, Berry, Quite Contrary

When I perused the aisles at the local nursery last year for ideas on what to plant, I picked up a six pack of strawberry plants. They looked healthy, with tiny white flowers showing promise to produce berries. I planted them under the still leaf-less dogwood with hopes they would generate more flowers and subsequent berries. I got a total of 6.

This year, the plants crept past the dogwood into the garlic patch; from the beets to the kale bed. And the plants produced more fruit than I anticipated. I didn’t like how they cramped my other vegetables, but I decided wait and see how they tasted before I uproot them.

My first harvest was enough to actually make something, but opted for savoring their flavor, not masking it with too much sugar or cream. I also wanted to make sure they were worth the space. The berries were soft and juicy, as opposed to the hard and crunchy “berries” sold at the supermarket. They had a bright acidity with a little sweetness. (Though, right after brushing my teeth, I would have given them a different, less favorable description.)

I could have made strawberry shortcakes or a pie. Instead I decided to toss them with arugula and scallions from the garden, and season simply with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and black pepper. The salad was a perfect foil for Vanilla Scented Duck Breast (same marinade as used here). And the duck skin played the role of croutons.

The big question remains – will the plants live to see another season? The berries were good, and the yield was better than the raspberry plant. But I don’t like they way the plants creep around. I will probably cut back what has crept too much and leave the rest.

May 31, 2010

Shhhh…. Can You Keep a Secret? (Recipe: Morels Stuffed with Truffled Chicken Mousse)

If you found these morels dotting the woods and fields, you wouldn’t tell a soul where you were. You’d keep this hidden stash to yourself – and with good reason. You could score $40 worth of mushrooms in the course of a half-hour walk.

Mushrooms are wily creatures, and usually appear about 3 days after a rain. I’ve found morels in my back yard, a few feet away from a pine tree. “They” say you can find morels a year after a forest fire near the burn. Or perhaps by new growth that sprouts from fallen trees. Sometimes they hide under dead leaves, others are in plain sight.

In Colorado, where the morel season is just winding down, foragers will hide any evidence they are searching for mushrooms, lest you discover their secret spot and take them. My Aspen friends kindly took me along on an expedition because they knew I could keep a secret.

For that dinner, we sautéed morels and served them with roast salmon and creamy polenta. The next night, we grilled pizzas and topped them with morels and mozzarella. But the highlight were the morels we stuffed with truffled chicken mousse.

Morels Stuffed with Truffled Chicken Mousse

You'll need large morels for this recipe.

16 large morel mushrooms
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, about 8 oz.
1 egg
3/4 cup cream
1 tbs. truffle carpaccio or oil
1 tbs. fresh tarragon
1 tbs. fresh chives
1 tbs. butter
1 small shallot, peeled and diced
1/4 cup madeira or dry sherry
1 cup chicken stock
salt and black pepper
lemon juice

Cube chicken meat and put in food processor with egg, cream and truffle carpaccio. Blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Add tarragon and chives, and pulse until just combined.
Trim the very ends of morels. Inspect the inside to make sure there are no bugs.
Fill a pastry bag fitted with a small tip with the chicken mousse. Pipe the mousse into the mushrooms.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat-high heat. Add the butter. When melted, add the morels and the shallots. Cook for about 3 minutes, turning occasionally.
Add the madeira and chicken stock. Cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes more. Finish with a squeeze of lemon.
Serve with roast chicken or grilled steak.

May 28, 2010

Volunteerism

My morning routine includes a pot of coffee, the New York Times and an inspection of the garden.

This time of year, I’m looking to see if radishes are ready to harvest, lettuce ready to cut and if the strawberries are ripe. And of course, I look for stray weeds. I want to catch them when they are still small and easy to pluck out of the ground. Obviously, I appreciate the aesthetic of having a weed-free garden. More importantly, given how hot and dry it’s been lately, I don’t want any intruder depriving my fledgling tomato and cucumber plants from their much needed water and nutrients.

Looking at the thicket of mint, I noticed a few leaves did not belong. As I reached down to pluck them out of the ground, I realized it was, in fact, a tomato plant. An errant seed from one of last summer's tomatoes must have landed in the mint patch. A volunteer.

Who knows what will come up, but for sure it will be a hardy plant. Perhaps it will be a yellow cherry tomato…. I recall several tomatoes split from the combination of rain and heat. I few of those dropped on the ground. Did I not bother to clean them up? I thought I was pretty vigilant with the rampant blight. Or perhaps it’s a Roma tomato. I remember sharing a ripe tomato with one of my favorite four-year-olds. The plum tomato, dry and ideal for stews and sauces, was too mushy for his taste and he spit it out.

Though I’ve been better about labeling plants this year, I’ll mark this one with a big question mark.

May 25, 2010

Hello? Hello? Is Anybody Out There? (Recipe Salt and Pepper Soft Shell Crabs)

About 6 weeks ago, I started a transition from Blogger to TypePad.

It’s been a rough ride, but I think I’ve finally landed. In case you didn’t notice, I’ve had a whole host of web-hosting issues – from having no template, just plain text to having a lone post from 2 years ago as the only content on the site. But now, after countless hours of calls and emails to tech-support, I think (*finally*) everything is fixed. If you used to subscribe to my blog-feed in reader or through RSS, please re-subscribed. If you didn’t already subscribe, now would be a fine time to start.

Though the blog has been an unhappy place, my garden continues to offer a respite.

With the unusually warm spring, the lettuces developed thick stems and spicy leaves. I like the flavors better now, but it requires a little more cleaning. The stems, though edible, are not palatable. So I trim them.

The garden yields about a gallon of leaves every other day. I realized this is far more lettuce than I can really eat on my own – I’ve been sharing with friends and neighbors, and bringing lettuce to client meetings. As I was strategizing where to plant tomatoes, I realized I could part with some lettuce. Out it went and in went the tomatoes.

I planted scallions several years ago. And when I harvest them, I only cut off the green stems and leave the white bulbs so they will continue to grow. By now, the scallions are quite thick and hardy – still pleasant as a raw garnish, but bordering on tough and fibrous. I planted a replacement crop of scallions, and as soon as those are ready to harvest, I will pull out the older ones completely.

Salt and Pepper Soft Shell Crabs

In Chinese restaurants in Boston, they serve dried-fried shrimp on a
bed of shredded lettuce. I adapted the traditional dish to use soft
shell crabs on a bed of spicy lettuce greens. Serve with steamed white rice for a main meal.

2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. Sichuan peppercorns, ground
pinch Chinese Five-spice
1/4 cup corn starch
2 soft shell crabs, cleaned
1/4 cup plain oil
3 scallions cut into rings
1 red jalapeno cut into rings
salad leaves for garden

Mix salt, sugar, Sichuan peppercorns and five spice.
Dredge soft shell crabs in corn starch
Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. When oil shimmers, gently place crabs in oil, smooth side down. Cook for 3 minutes or until they start to get crispy. Flip them over and cook fro 3 minutes more.
Remove soft shell crabs from pan, and drain the oil. Return the crabs to the pan over high heat. Sprinkle about 1 tsp. of the seasoned salt on top, and stir to coat. Toss in scallions and jalapenos and cook for 1 minute more.
Remove from heat. Serve crabs with salad greens.

May 17, 2010

Impatient Gardener (Recipe: Pasta with Young Garlic, Tomatoes and Basil)

I’ve developed a strategy for crop rotation that, up until this year, has been pretty successful. I plant lettuces and spring crops in half the yard and then the summer crops in the other half. When the spring crops wind down, usually in late June, I prep the soil and get it ready for the fall crops which go in in August.

This year, I have a problem. I planted garlic for the first time with the notion that I would harvest the bulbs in late May/early June, just in time for the summer crops to go in. The stalks were looking thick, so I thought I’d pull one up to see how it progressed. It looks closer to a leek than a garlic bulb. They will need at least a month more.

The garden is quite full right now. Summer veggies that are already planted: celery, leeks, kale, beets, broccoli, brussels sprouts. The spring veggies that will be harvested over the next few weeks: lettuce, radishes, strawberries and the questionable garlic.
If I want to plant tomatoes, cucumbers and eggplant, something has to go.

I’m not sure what I will do… which would you sacrifice?

In the meantime, I couldn’t let the young garlic go to waste… I rolled out fresh pasta and tossed it with tomatoes, arugula and shrimp.

From the garden: garlic, arugula, basil and tomatoes.

Pasta with Young Garlic, Tomatoes and Basil

1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tbs. olive oil
1 stalk young garlic chopped, or two cloves chopped
1/4 tsp (or more) chili flakes
1 – 15 oz. canned tomatoes
1/4 cup white wine
1 tbs. fresh (or frozen) basil
1/2 pound fettuccine

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season generously with salt.
Season shrimp with salt and pepper.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute until it softens. Add shrimp and chili flakes and cook for 2 minutes until it begins to turn pink. Add white wine and tomatoes, continue cooking until tomatoes thicken and shrimp cook through. If the sauce seems thin, but the shrimp are cooked, pick them out and set them aside.
Cook pasta according to package direction, but for 1 minute less. When pasta is cooked, drain and toss with tomatoes.
Mix in basil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

May 15, 2010

Service Oddities

As we sat in a second traffic jam caused by a rush hour accident, it was clear we would be late for our 7pm dinner reservation at Restaurant Eve. We called the restaurant to let them know, and ask them to kindly hold our table. I know that some restaurants will give up your table if you are more than 15 minutes late, and I knew that we might be. The hostess assured us that would be fine, but the table is committed again at 9pm so we will need to be done with dinner by then. Fine.

We finally made it at 7:17pm. The hostess greeted us with a reminder again that they would need the table back at 9pm. Okay. And then we waited for five minutes to be seated.

Restaurant Eve has received many accolades for its cuisine, including “Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year” by The Rammy’s for its refined, locally inspired cuisine. Marian Burros, New York Times restaurant critique asserts this is the only Washington DC restaurant that can compete with New York’s finest.

Our server promptly arrived at our table with water and menus. He graciously told us the specials. The menu featured seasonal favorites such as ramps, sea-beans, morels and soft shell crabs. I ordered the Soft Shell crab with Ramps, Sea-Beans and a Bacon Puree, followed by Sweetbreads with King Oyster Mushrooms and Pickled Ramps.

The service at Restaurant Eve exudes an air of refinement. The servers wear suits with ties, and even the crumb-er is a brass broom with matching miniature dust-pan.
The linens are crisp with nary a crease or fold. Through the course of our meal other diners finished their meals, and the tables were cleared and fresh linens were snapped across the table. A waiter pulled out a cordless iron, and pressed out the creases. While the next diners will surely appreciate the crisply pressed linens, the restaurant sacrificed the experience for the rest of us by this display of housekeeping.

By 8.30 we had finished our main meal, and contemplated dessert. With an eye on the time, I let our waiter know I was aware of the time restriction. “Bring us dessert and the check at the same time,” I said, knowing that this rushed type of service is not typical for such fine dining. As it turns out, the hostess had not bothered to tell our server of the next reservation, so the waiter promptly disregarded the request. By 9.10 we were still waiting for our check and I’m sure the other diners were waiting for the table.

If you ask me (and I’m sure you would have), the hostess should not have told us of the 9pm table, but instead told our waiter. We are at his mercy to make sure the timing of our dinner is expedited. We can only progress through the meal as quickly as he returns to our table for the next course.

What service oddities have you experienced at fine dining restaurants?