Before delving into today’s topic, we need to pass along an important change just sent our way regarding the Barbara Lynch event mentioned in Tuesday Tidbits. As a reminder, next week Chef Lynch will be presenting, discussing and offering a tasting from her new cookbook Stir: Mixing It Up in the Italian Tradition. The day and time are the same (Tuesday, Nov. 17, 7pm), but there’s been a change of venue to the Morse Institute Library in Natick. 
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Now, the stuff of today’s post. Two nights ago I had the opportunity of joining one of the New England Aquarium’s “Celebrate Seafood” dinners, at which approximately 60 guests participate in a live cooking demonstration and Q&A featuring the NEAQ’s Executive Chef Tim Ridge, a local guest chef who on this evening was Andy Husbands of Tremont 647, and three kinds of exquisitely prepared seafood chosen on account of the ecologically sustainable way each landed on the dinner plates. The take-home point of the evening (and the entire dinner series) is, these fish can land in a sustainable way on your plate, too.

On Tuesday we ate the Hawaiian reef fish opakapaka, followed by West Coast Dungeness crab and U.S. rainbow trout. Of the three, it’s the trout I’d like to focus on for the moment. The recipe developed by Chef Tim called for the fish to be pan-seared, laid on a bed of braised red cabbage and drizzled with an herbs de Provence-flavored cream sauce. The result was delicate, flavorful, balanced. Superb. But when NEAQ Conservation Director Lydia Bergen began introducing the fish by way of a Google Maps zoom-in, the diners hummed. The U.S. rainbow trout we were about to eat had been farmed-raised, in Idaho. Really? Come to find out, the production techniques of the domestic trout farming industry are well established, operationally efficient, and the farms themselved monitored and regulated for minimal negative impact on the environment. The water most farms use is pulled from natural streams into land-based raceways and filtered of waste products before being released back into the natural stream. All this in combination makes U.S. farmed trout an ocean-friendly seafood choice.

What can the average consumer do, I asked Lydia, to make responsible choices when buying seafood? “Ask lots of questions,” she said. They’re logical but important: where, specifically, did the fish come from, how was it caught or raised, by what supplier or company, etc. This shows the vendor your interest, your desire to be informed and the selectivity underlying your choices about what fish to eat, what to avoid. Not all farm-raised seafood is a good choice, nor is all wild-caught. The Aquarium has lots of great information on sustainable seafood choices and related recipes, too. So, read away, then, of course, eat.

More soon on Andy Husbands’ crab momos and audio from the dinner itself.

When the vendors loaded their trucks at the last Union Square farmer market of the season, I let out a big (and quite audible) sigh.  My ability to score fantastic, local produce was gone and so was the summer.   BUT, I started thinking….there’s got to be some winter farmer’s markets out there.  Well……OF COURSE THERE IS.

Boston Family Life compiled an incredible list of winter markets around the state.  Check out the info HERE.

Chefs in the House
Want to meet them? Wellesley Booksmith will be hosting chefs Lidia Bastianich (today!)and Barbara Lynch at separate book signings this month.

Cinema Meets Science Meets Savory/Sweet
Coolidge Corner Theatre’s Science on Screen Series is presenting the Danish film “Babette’s Feast” with a talk beforehand by food science expert Guy Crosby on November 16th.

Catch That Last Train…
If the Sunday after Thanksgiving finds you hungry for another full meal, served with a view of the countryside, you may want to board The Vermont Dining Train.

Pasta and (you name the) Beans
I grew up eating a simple pasta fazul made from navy beans that had soaked overnight. Now I make my own pasta e fagioli with romano beans. But Two Coast Table has posted a cannelloni-bean version, made with chick peas, that looks delicious. Any other versions out there?

A few days ago, I came across a fantastic audio piece by food critic and independent radio producer Guy Hand.  In his introduction to the piece he writes, “food has an incredible ability to bring people together…..but it can also divide.”  As someone who grew up in Texas, I realize people eat differently across this country, but is it really divided along political party lines?

I interviewed Guy about this idea, fittingly bringing red and blue sides of the country together by telephone wire (he’s currently based in Boise).  We had a great conversation and I think it will shed light on his decision to make this piece.  Take a read…and most important, take a listen.

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PRK: What made you think of this story?  Did you have a specific experience that provided the impetus to make it happen?

GH: This idea has been below my radar for quite some time. Food is a symbol of class and politics and ethnicity. It’s always around but I guess most of the time it’s a bit invisible.  I was looking back on the last presidential campaign and there were tons of references to food as political.  What kind of mustard was Obama using? Domestic? Foreign?  It’s truly an old issue: there has always been a demonized food that symbolized “the other guy.”

PRK: What was the most interesting piece of information that you learned?

GH: While the piece itself is mostly humorous, there is some research on the subject of food and how it divides people into different groups.  I am sure there is even more than what I found.  There was a study done in 2008 that linked your belief system with how things taste.  Food actually tastes better or worse depending on how a food fits into your value system. For example, chain restaurants might rub people the wrong way.  If you’re at some place that you feel good about…the food is likely to taste better.

PRK: What do you hope listeners take away?

GH: I think people must realize that food is a symbol for other things.  One of the things I read while I was researching was from an anthropologist who said food is a rich symbol for other things because it’s one of the few things that engages all of our senses.  Food has emotional power that we can invest in other things.  Ultimately, what’s interesting about food is that it s a symbol for so much else.

PRK: What is your preference: iceberg or arugula?

GH: [Laughs] I would say I’m more of an arugula person.  You know, I reviewed a very conservative old-fashioned restaurant a year ago and I thought I was going to hate it.  They had an iceberg lettuce salad and it was really, really great.  Delicious. I wrote that into the review; none of these foods are necessarily evil food, it’s the categories we put them into.

To listen to ARUGULA WARS, click HERE

Tom Urell

On a crisp morning a couple weeks ago, I went to Marblehead to meet Tim and Bronwyn Wiechmann at the house where they keep a root cellar for their restaurant, TW Food, in Huron Village, Cambridge. As the growing season winds down, Tim and Bronwyn are busy loading hundreds of pounds of vegetables into the cellar to use through the coming months.

Kept in large bins and covered with sand, the produce will keep long after the farmers’ markets are closed for the season and the ground has frozen. In keeping with his ‘keep it local’ ethos, this home-grown source of produce will allow Chef Tim to serve locally-grown vegetables from now through the winter, minimizing his need to order produce that has to be shipped in from California or beyond.

The vegetables will stay fresh until Tim gets tired of preparing (and customers no longer want to eat!) winter vegetables, which usually comes around the end of March. Then, around April, there is what farmers call “the hungry gap,” the period between when the cellar supply is wearing thin and the greenhouses and fields are just beginning to offer up the first shoots of spring.

For the home cook, Tim recommends setting up a small bin of beets, carrots and other hearty root vegetables and covering them with dirt, sand or sawdust. The bin should be kept in a cool, dark and dry place–i.e., ambient temperatures of 32-50°F and 60-70% humidity. Potatoes, onions, cabbage, garlic and thick-skinned squash (butternut, acorn and delicata) can all keep for months, too, when placed in baskets in the same conditions. If you check periodically for spoilage, the vegetables should keep until you are ready to cook with them.

After experimenting on his own for the first season, Tim’s current guide to the cellaring process is Root Cellaring by Mike and Nancy Bubel. It goes into great detail about preserving all types of produce and setting up a cellar under almost any conditions.

For Tim, the cellaring process is more than just an expression of the local food ethic that drives TW Food: it makes business sense. Buying vegetables now, as area farmers finish their harvest, is less expensive than ordering them a few weeks or months down the road, in part because Tim does the shipping and storage himself. Once the vegetables are laid down in the cellar, the challenge then becomes using it all. The bill’s been paid!

What about you? Do you store vegetables in a cellar of sorts or go out of your way to find local produce that has been stored during the winter? Share your cellaring stories.

Hello Kitchen fans: today we’re shouting out to each of you to mark your calendars for the next PRK Meet-Up Eat-Up!

When:  Thursday, December 3, 6-8pm
Where:  WBUR studios
Eats:  potluck
Agenda: see below
RSVP:  prk@wbur.org

The evening’s events will include small group discussions and a speaker, with time upfront for socializing and networking. As in the past, we’ll keep the number of attendees to 40 max. First come first served, so let us know a.s.a.p. if you’re coming!

Next thing cooking: we want your input. What would your ideal topic be for a break-out session? Who is your dream guest speaker? Have any out-of-the-box ideas? Email us any and all suggestions. We’ll keep you posted on how the evening is shaping up. And we’ll organize the potluck as we receive your RSVPs.

See you in a month!
Sue, Jessica & Tom

Today has been all about cheesemaking.  We started the morning with an interview and drool session with Lourdes Smith of Fiore di Nonno.  Her skill is incredible and her stories even better.  Soon we’ll share all the goods with you.  In the meantime, you should try to catch some of her public cheesemaking demonstrations.  Look for more information at: www.fioredinonno.com

When you hang out with Lourdes…

You learn a LOT.   In just a little over an hour, I realized there was a lot to cheese in New England.  Check out these interesting links.

-Did you know University of Vermont has an institute for artisan cheesemaking?  For real.  Check out the VIAC program here.

-I am dying to try the Shy Brothers Farm “Hannahbells.” Two sets of fraternal twins working on their family farm churn out these mini dairy delights.  Have you tried them?

Susan McCrory

Meet Pretty, also called Bert. She’s one of the several lucky fowl that, yes, lays eggs at Powisset Farm in Dover, MA, but also adds to the irresistable ambience of the place. Powisset is one of the approximately 100 properties in Massachusetts preserved by The Trustees of Reservations, a private non-profit. It was here that PRK’s three footsoldiers–Jessica Alpert, Tom Urell and myself–recently ventured, navigating some beautiful back roads still lined with glowing sugar maples to reach the farm and the subject of our interview, Meryl LaTronica, farm manager and also head of the CSA Program at Powisset.

Meet Meryl. Meryl is the visionary and understated powerhouse behind Powisset Farm. Continue reading →

I met Plinio Sandalio at Johnston Middle School back in my hometown of Houston, Texas.  He has always been an eccentric soul but who knew he would channel his talents into dessert? We drifted once we were both in high school but recently I read an article about him in the Houston Press. The Press calls this twenty-something one of the biggest pastry talents in Houston: “..the whimsical and utterly beguiling desserts satisfy a range of palates, from the traditional (a bold chocolate torchon) to the adventurous (sweet potato beignets with bacon ice cream, or pound cake with apple butter and blue cheese ice cream… He’s currently experimenting with Pisco sours lined with Pop Rocks and a fried chicken ice cream made with roasted chicken bone stock and Guajillo honey, a dish that’s at once savory, sweet and staggeringly delicious.” I was totally blown away by Plinio’s creativity and his career. Now pastry chef at Textile,  Plinio took a break from his busy schedule to indulge my curiosity.

PRK: We’ve known each other since we were twelve. Were you always interested in cooking or baking? If not, when did this interest begin?

PS: To be honest, I never knew there was a career in cooking. I would always watch my grandma cook and really loved her food, but as far as food goes, I thought that was it. I didn’t think about restaurants until college. After high school I had a full scholarship to go the Rochester Institute of Technology for Mechanical Engineering. Two years into college, I hated it and dropped out. [While in Rochester] I met a really great friend who was going to Pittsburgh for pastry arts. It sounded very interesting and after a year, I moved back to Houston and enrolled in culinary school.

PRK: What made you decide to turn cooking/baking into a career?

PS: The idea of sitting in a cubicle and doing paperwork never really appealed to me. I was told in engineering school that after we graduated, we would work as assistants for 10 years or so before we were able to do our thing. This didn’t suit me.   I always liked working and creating with my hands and creating.   Pastry arts are very meticulous; it requires a lot of focus and attention. You have to understand how your product works and how the addition of specific ingredients affects the result.

PRK: Granted, we are based in New England. But if people want to take a trip down south, can you tell us what the food scene like in Houston?

PS: Aside from the abundant steakhouses and chain restaurants, Houston has a small but very diverse food scene. You can find just about any cuisine in our neighborhoods. There are a handful of restaurants that are foodie destinations. Being in the south, most restaurants do comfort foods which is never really a bad thing. There are a small amount of chefs who do progressive and innovative cooking: I’m in that small lot.

PRK: You’re well-known for taking risks. What has been your most successful risky ingredient?

PS: Most successful would have to be my corndog dessert. I am actually thinking about entering it next year into the Texas State Fair, birthplace of the corndog. So many people shy away from it [corndog]. They are even scared to taste it but once they do, they are hooked! The dessert is fried corn cakes that are rolled in powdered sugar, served with hot dog ketchup and yellow mustard ice cream. All the flavors of a corndog, but with a little amount of sugar! I think people were afraid of it because of the mustard and the hot dog but when you think about it, all the elements in the corndog are sweet. Hot dogs, corndog batter, ketchup, yellow mustard: it only made sense to make a dessert out of it!

PRK: Do you feel diners are ready to take risks with dessert?

PS: Yes. I even started offering dessert tastings at textile. I offer 10 courses and my tasting menu is designed very much like a savory tasting menu. I start with savory desserts; followed by a cheese course; finishing with sweet desserts.

PRK: How do other cuisines inspire your savory as sweet palate?

PS: In most Asian cuisines sweet, sour, salty and bitter is used in one plate. I try to do the same with my desserts. In addition, most of their proteins are cooked with sugar and citrus. I love that! Because they use sugar with proteins, I thought why not make it a dessert?? For example, I recently made pork adobo ice cream for a benefit dinner in Houston.

PRK: What has been your biggest disaster dessert-wise?

PS: Actually, today I will be doing a vegan dinner. Last night I tried to make a fake bacon ice cream with tofutti bacon strips and soy milk. It was terrible! Terrible! Instead I’m offering sweet potato beignets with guajillo honey and roasted pear tart with mushroom iced tea. The fake bacon ice cream was to be served with the beignets, but I’m omitting it.

PRK: Do you have an interesting recipe to share with our readers?

PS: Shocking but true; I do not like the flavor of eggs in desserts. I especially do not like the flavor of eggs in ice creams. To fight that i have developed an eggless ice cream recipe.

Plinio Sandalio’s Eggless Ice Cream

8 oz fat*

2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/8 cup light corn syrup

pinch sea salt

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

*you can use any fat to flavor your ice cream. I use this recipe to make all my ice creams. So far I have done: roasted foie gras, bacon, salted butter, mustard, buttermilk, gouda, blue cheese, malted chocolate, potato, goat cheese, and spam.