Aglianico meets Vermont Local New Year’s Eve Dinner

(Gastronomeg)

It’s the first winter I’ve spent back in Vermont for 15 years now… but a couple of nights of howling wind brought it all right back: it gets COLD here! Fortunately, our enormous Vermont Castings ‘Defiant’ wood stove heats the whole house, except around the edges on the windiest nights.  New Years’ Eve was setting up to be one of those nights (after a day of snowfall), and we were glad we had no plans except to sit by the fire and listen to the silence on the baby monitor.

Dinner wasn’t going to be anything fabulous until about mid-day, when our neighbor Dan stopped in. Dan is an experienced and accomplished hunter. He loves the time in the woods alone, and he and his wife enjoy eating the fruits of his fall hobby all winter and spring. This year he’d been lucky enough to bag both a buck, during rifle season, and then a doe, during the muzzle-loader season.

Jason has expressed an interest in going out hunting next year (meat doesn’t get any more local than that, after all) but he’d never eaten what city slickers refer to as ‘venison’ (around here we just call it deer). So Dan brought us some really choice cuts as an introduction. There were two packages: medallions of tenderloin as well as some nice thinly sliced steaks (this was definitely the best return on a plate of Christmas cookies I’ve ever gotten!).  We opted for the medallions for our New Year’s Eve feast.

This cut is incredibly simple to prepare – just pan-sear the meat on both sides, then take it out and start braising some onions in the pan. De-glaze with some red wine, pop the meat back on top for a minute to finish cooking, and it’s done.  Wild deer meat can take some cooking – I like it medium (warm through but still pink in the center). For side dishes, we had  on hand some of the inevitable local winter fare – gilfeather turnips (which I wrote about here) and potatoes. I decided to roast the turnips with herbes de provence to bring out their sweetness, and we’d throw some extra butter in the potatoes to ramp up the richness a tad.

Meanwhile, Carla had just called to suggest Aglianico as the wine of the month for January, and I happened to have two bottles of Ocone’s Taburno Aglianico in the cellar.  The wine pairing was a cinch as well. This was a wine that could handle the deep richness of the meat (wild venison has an almost liver-like quality) and balance the earthy sweetness of the roasted turnips to boot. I love the Ocone for its balance of power and lightness – it is dark and focused, but still has a vibrant acidity and enough restraint that it would marry with, rather than fight the flavors on the table. I can’t think of a better wine pairing for Jason’s first taste of deer than a nice old-school Aglianico like this….

This was one of those meals that just came together with what was on hand (or brought by a generous neighbor). All in all, it was the perfect New Year’s Eve at home!

A Toast to my favorites from 2009

Gastronomeg:

I’m a very present-tense, on-to-the-next-thing sort of person, so it’s been fun to look back at 2009 for some of my favorite food and wine memories. Here is a series of belated New Year’s toasts:

1. To dinners at home: While we were still living in Harlem, the weekly ‘salon’ on Tuesday nights with my half-sister Ellen and Jason’s sister Charmayne and her husband Roberto… the food was usually simple (and dessert was often made on the fly; thank goodness for Dorie Greenspan’s Swedish Visiting Cake, to which I always add chopped apples) but the company was full of youthful energy and much silliness usually ensued. Here’s to inviting friends and family over for casual meals!

2. To dinner parties: A higher level of cuisine prevailed at all the Vinartculture wine dinners, which are definitely in my Top Ten Meals of the year.  Thanks so much to Carlita for masterminding the effort. It was great to take the time to seek out and taste wines with friends and make great food. Here’s to dinner parties with friends who are great cooks!

3. To dining out: Although we didn’t do much dining out last year, when we did we sure did it right. Jason treated me to an extravagant feast at Gramercy Tavern to celebrate our anniversary. The dining room is well appointed and the food is great, but there are a lot of attractive places to get good food in NYC. What makes Gramercy Tavern stand apart is the service –I can’t put my finger on exactly how they do it, but they make you feel like your dinner is a truly special occasion, despite the fact that there are other people’s special occasions going on all around you (it seemed like every table had a birthday.) I can’t remember what we ordered, but I do remember that everything was delicious and that we were ridiculously full after 4 courses. The whole evening has a special glow around it in my memory.  Here’s to Gramercy Tavern!

4. To terrific wines that aren’t expensive:  What with the life changes this year (as in: buying a house and having a kid) we have been more overjoyed than ever to realize you don’t have to spend a lot to get a great bottle of wine. My perennial top-favorite white is Marc Ollivier’s Domaine de la Pepiere Muscadet. Even at the new price of $13.99, it is a bargain: complex, refreshing, and downright delicious. I love this wine so much that it HAD to be our wedding white in 2008, and of course we have been drinking it at home with everything ever since, too. On the red front, I’d have to say that the Deux Anes Corbieres “premier pas” 2007 was definitely our top everyday wine in 2009.  When the supply we brought from New York ran out and we had to shop locally for wines (Jenny and Francois wines are not available in Vermont…. YET) this was the wine that all selections had to measure up to (and failed).  Here’s to Jenny and Francois and Joe Dressner for importing such wonderful, natural wines!

5. To having a place to buy them: As a corollary, my vote for the top place to shop for wines, anywhere, in 2009 and forever anon goes to Chambers Street Wines. When we visited NYC briefly on Christmas Eve, we’d had them deliver a case and a half of wine uptown to the apartment…. I don’t know any other shop where you can make such a delicious assortment of wines for so little money. Chambers Street is also where I go when I want to go the whole hog and spend some serious money, but isn’t it great that they pay just as much attention to the wines they sell for under $15? Here’s to Chambers Street Wines!

And here is to another year of great eating, drinking, and art in 2010. I’m looking forward to spring gardening projects and more fresh and delicious local food. Meanwhile, we are getting creative with root vegetables and frozen greens as we watch the snow fall and wait for spring. Oh, and we are about to bottle our first batch of home-brewed beer! Here’s to that, definitely (in a few weeks, anyhow)!

Looking back and ahead to 2010…..

Carlita:

Cheers to 2010!  The holidays slipped away quickly and I finally have time to sit back reflect on the festive times and hopes for the new year.   Christmas Eve brought Gastronomeg, Jason and little Charlotte to the city.  We had a perfect throw together dinner on Christmas Eve at Gastronomeg’s parents pied-a-terre on the upper west side.  The small studio is  conveniently located around the corner from Salumeria Rosi, Fairway and Citarella.

I brought pasta puttenesca, a traditional recipe from my days cooking at the Pink Door in Seattle, thanks Jackie!  For some reason I make it almost every Christmas, first because it is so yummy, and second I usually have all the ingredients at home.  I find the holidays full of baking, caking and chocolate making and never get to the store for real food.  I’m sure there must be a papal penalty for serving the most un-holy pasta on the most holy night……..

We were joined by Jason’s sister Charmayne and husband Roberto.  Besides the pasta we had salumi and cheeses, roast chicken and an escarole salad.  Charlotte snoozed away in her portable crib in the walk-in closet.  It was great catching up with some Burgundy and Sagrantino.  We covered all the bases…………

Carlita’s 2009 vinartculture favorites:

-       Gastronmeg’s goodbye Manhatten lunch at Filidia.  A 3-course lunch at Lidia Bastianich’s mothership restaurant is a fantastic deal at $29.99.  A classic old New York setting in a brownstone on east 58^{th.   I}mpeccable service with many of the same pasta dishes from the evening menu.  Don’t miss the pear and pecorino ravioli.  My roasted peach and beet salad was amazing.  Chef Fortunato Nicotra continues to push the envelope with classic Italian dishes, minimal and elegant.

-       La Esquina Taqueria taco’s, my favorite is the chorizo with potato.  Authentic taqueria’s are few and far between in the big apple but this little corner stand in Soho is the real tortilla.  Taco trucks are great but I need a place to sit and taco’s don’t travel well.  La Esquina has a row of stools and tables outdoors for that perfect lunch or afternoon taco fix.

-        Company pizza and salads, a great combination, usually order the special pie which is an inventive combination of seasonal ingredients.

-        Ribollita at Pepolino, this Italian spot just south of Canal is so authentic from food to décor.  I come here whenever I want to be transported back to Tuscany.

-       Joe the art of Coffee- As a former Seattlite I am overjoyed that artful coffee has finally made it to the Big Apple.  New Yorkers left their blue and white deli cups for Starbucks and now they are making the next leap up thanks to Joe, Stumptown, 9th St. Espresso……

-        Anything at any of David Chang’s restaurants.

Recession wine favorites of 2009 –

-        White: Commanderie Quincy, a refreshing minerally white, a stones throw from Sancerre for half the price.

-        Red:  Argiolas Perdera-100% Monica, round, soft, great with food and on its own, I love it with a slight chill in the summer months.  Year after year this winery puts out natural, consistant great value wines from indigenous Sardinian grapes.

-        Inwood Farmers Market

-        Sharon Horvath: Parts of a World at Lori Bookstein Fine Art, luscious paintings of various imagined spaces full of texture and color.

-        Spectrum Squared at Bussaco Restaurant Wine Bar in Park Slope- Ok, a little self promotion is what the web is all about, up through February, abstraction/color based paintings by four artists.  While your there have the bison and wild mushroom bolognese with fresh farro pasta.  Bravo to Bussaco for putting out great food, wine and rotating art shows in their impeccably designed space!

-        Tart flambe, liverwurst and a glass of chassalas at the bar in the Modern, a great afternoon treat after taking in the galleries.

-        Sour Cherry Crisp at Yura, a bakery catering outfit near one of my jobs on the upper east side.  This bakery does consistently good old fashioned baking.  Where else can you get sour cherry crisp!  Other favorites include farm cake and an exquisite lemon tea loaf.

-        The Highline

-        David Dunlap at the Cue Foundation

-        And did I mention Salmaria Rosi……..

Gobbler sighted at the Country Home of Harlem…

Carlita:

Last November I spent Thanksgiving up in Maine at my friend Alex Abuza’s sprawling country home.   Alex is a home and garden designer and has been renovating this space for over 5 years.  In true New England farmstead fashion it is a rambling house attached to another house attached to a barn…etc.  We cooked the turkey in an old wood stove in the kitchen and also had a modern stove to accommodate all the various other thanksgiving goodies.  The wood stove cooked a perfect turkey and the stovetop was great for keeping all the dishes warm.  Alex’s boyfriend Toby, an American/Italian, made a gorgeous eggplant parmesan and homemade bread. It all was a perfect blend of people, cultures, conversation and setting.  We ate on an old wide plank farmhouse table  and had a pre-dinner walk in some blueberry fields down the road.

This year I was the lucky recipient of an invite to the ‘country’ estate of Stacy and Fred, in the northern reaches of Harlem.  Theirs is a sprawling Riverside Drive apartment with Hudson River views.  It was another holiday with  amazing people, food, stories and lots of warmth.  My contribution was two pies: my old standby sweet potato and an apple.  I’m a sucker for tradition and realized I’ve been making the sweet potato pecan pie, an old Paul Prudhomme recipe, for 12-15 years.  It is a rich decadent Southern dessert, a fussy ‘pastry chef’ sort of pie.  As always it was a hit, although I decided that next year was time to find a new pumpkin or sweet potato dessert, perhaps something simpler. I also made an apple pie, which was a lot of fun after my apple experiments this fall. I rarely make apple pies; my apple desserts usually tend toward crisp, crostata or tart tartin. I used an all butter crust recipe this time and called up mom for tips.

As a side note, my friend April Baker has baked at least 100 pies since moving to Virginia.  She has an elaborate method of freezing apples and squeezing out the moisture before she tosses them with baking spices brown and white sugar and makes her crusts out of vegetable shortening. April claims this method produces the perfect velvety pie filling.  Perhaps I can coax the recipe out of her for the blog…….

Everyone has their theories about wine pairings for Thanksgiving and I prefer to stick with simple, fresh, palate-cleansing wines.  We had a variety of reds and whites this year but the one that really stood out as the perfect turkey feast wine was a Riesling trocken from the Rheinhessen by Bruder Dr. Becker .  This biodynamic white was clean with bright fruit, great minerality and floral notes.  It perfectly complemented the sweeter dishes like sweet potatoes and waldorf salad.  The racy minerality was a handy counterpoint to the fattier gravy and stuffing.

In the meantime up in Vermont, Gastronomeg side dish recipes……….

Gastronomeg:

Thanksgiving vegetables….

The last several years, Thanksgiving has found us gathering here in Vermont with my mother and stepfather and a rotating cast of friends at the home of some old family friends in Halifax.  This was the first year that doing so didn’t require a long drive from New York, since the place I’ve always referred to as ‘home’ is really and truly my permanent home now!

Lynda, our hostess, loves to put on a big feast (and makes a mean turkey, not to mention the best pecan pie around)…. But she is nice enough to farm out some of the cooking tasks to willing guests. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving to me without some time at the stove! My mother and I were tapped to bring some vegetable dishes. I nabbed her half of the assignment, which gave me the chance to perfect two recipes I’ve been working on this fall.

First of all, I knew I’d have to do something with Gilfeather Turnips. This is our new favorite local vegetable – I don’t know if they are available widely outside of Vermont (or even outside our local area), but they are registered as a Vermont heirloom vegetable. The ever-so-humble Gilfeather Turnip is actually a rutabaga (or swede). It was developed by the bachelor John Gilfeather in nearby Wardsboro, VT (they have a yearly festival celebrating the turnip, which we attended in October, of course! Good fun.) At any rate, the Gilfeather turnip lacks the ammonia overtone that can make purple-topped turnips objectionable, especially when they get larger. Not so for the Gilfeather turnip: I have cooked some 1-pound+ specimens to good effect.They have a wonderfully subtle flavor for soups, and cook up surprisingly sweet when roasted.

For Thanksgiving, I decided to make them into a gratin, thinly slicing the turnips and cooking them in warm seasoned milk, finishing off with cheese (because obviously what we needed was more fat in our meal; it’s Thanksgiving). This is a wonderful preparation for these –actually now my favorite way to prepare the Gilfeather turnips. The subtle sweetness of the turnips really comes through when they are cooked in milk, which reduces to a nice creamy under-note. You could leave the cheese off, although I like the crunchiness it adds (and you could add in seasoned breadcrumbs for even more crunch and flavor).  Bonus – it’s easy to make ahead and reheat.

For dish number two, I have an accidental new favorite way to make Brussels sprouts which seemed a no-brainer for Thanksgiving. I stumbled upon this method when the last week of our CSA pickup included a not-so-pretty stalk of Brussels Sprouts. Rather than chuck them in the compost, I trimmed the black bits off, ending up with a pile of very cut up and irregular sprouts! So I decided to chop them all up finely, then sautéed them with some bacon and shallots, adding a little bit of water halfway through cooking to prevent browning. The result was a revelation – no blanching, no big mouthfuls of sprouts cooked on the outside but too crunchy in the middle, none of the bitterness that comes from roasted Brussels Sprouts.  Chopped before cooking, they melt a little and the flavor mellows (though not too much!).  And they are much easier to eat. I was pleased to note that they disappeared quickly off the buffet, a Brussels Sprouts first!  Try making them this way, and it may become the only was you make them.

Gilfeather Turnip Gratin (could work with small purple-top turnips, too)

1.5-2 lbs Gilfeather turnips

1 – 1 ½  cups whole milk (you will need enough to come halfway up the turnips)

2 TBSP butter

½ tsp salt, or more to taste

¼ tsp paprika (or more to taste)

black pepper

dash of freshly grated nutmeg

¾ cup grated cheese (I like a combination of boring old swiss and cheddar, but a good gruyere would be nice too, or parmesan even?) – optional

Preheat oven to 425

Peel and finely slice the turnips, then arrange in layers in a flattish pan that can be heated on the stove top. Dot with butter (not totally necessary, but it is better with butter of course).

Meanwhile, heat the milk to boiling and add seasonings (start with a cup here). Pour over layered turnips – it should come about halfway up the turnips; add more milk if necessary. Bring the entire pan to a simmer on the stovetop. Once it’s bubbling, throw into the oven for 15 minutes, or until about half the milk has boiled away and the top is starting to brown. Add the cheese and cook for 10-15 minutes more, or until browned – do keep an eye on it while cooking.

If you are making ahead, let it cool completely, uncovered, before refrigerating or transporting.

Hashed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Shallots

2 pints Brussels sprouts (about 1.5 pounds? I guess)

4 oz bacon (smoky=good!)

one large shallot

Trim the ends off the Brussels sprouts, then slice finely.

Chop bacon and shallot.

Cook bacon until fat starts to render, then add shallots and reduce heat. Add some olive oil if it looks dry. Stir until shallots are translucent, being careful not to burn them. Keeping heat at medium, add the chopped Brussels sprouts, sprinkle with salt, and sauté  until they are starting to look bright green – about 3 minutes. Add a bit of water (to just cover bottom of pan), reduce heat to low, and cover. Cook, stirring a few times, until the sprouts are tender and the water is reduced completely – about 3-5 minutes more.  Can also be made ahead and reheated quickly.

DUNLAPCULTURE – November 09

Carlita:

David dear DAVID…..In love and friendship

The 2009 calendar year is almost over but the vinartculture calendar marches on.  For those of you lucky enough to have the original 2009 collector’s calendar stay tuned on the blog as it morphs into 2010, in some form.  Currently it is in collaboration with artist David Dunlap.  David is a friend, artist, teacher, collaborator, performance artist and walnut farmer among other things.  The best way I can describe the genius of David Dunlap is as one big power strip, the original facebook.  His art is all about connections and connecting, people, ideas, emotions, day by day, moment to moment.  Currently he has an installation at the Cue Foundation in Chelsea, which runs through January 9, 2010.  David’s art is all about the cumulative moments of life expressed through daily drawings, observations, text and objects, how they connect and bridge human connections and ideas.  I was lucky enough to witness a Dunlap installation when I showed up to help the last couple hours before the opening.  Everyone was frantic as his installations are many, many pieces, which fit together into a towering whole lifetime of complex, intelligent, wacky, profound reverie.  I wondered how this all was going to pull together by the opening at 6:00.   David was so calm and collected, greeted me with his impish grin, excited to see an old friend and basking in the process.   We pulled things together at 6:15, the opening was at 6, David enjoying every second of it…… as David would say, this is never finished….

Fall means apples-part 2

Carlita:

The yearning for Apple pie looms large in the American unconscious. This is our dessert, the one that speaks most of home, family, craft and community.   In the spring of 2002, the performance artist Anissa Mack set up a small white cottage on the steps to the Brooklyn Public Library.  She spent all day baking apple pies in the small structure and then set them on the window sill to cool, encouraging passersby to snatch them. Saturday morning cartoons of my era were ripe with such pie theft scenarios: Yogi Bear, Tom and Jerry, Roadrunner … they all coveted that warm pie sitting out on the windowsill to cool.

My earliest memories of apples revolve around a yearly family ritual of going to an orchard where we would pick up apples and cider fresh from the press.   We were living in Michigan at the time and I remember the smells of damp leaves, wood and wool, crisp fall air and the sweet smell of apples as they were pressed for cider.  The taste of that cider was so incredibly good: all natural, pure, sweet and so very fresh.

After we moved to Nebraska the apple rituals were less abundant, since Nebraska prairie land was not designed for apple orchards.   However, Nebraska City, an area along the Missouri river south of Omaha, had an unusual “mini forest” and apple orchards. Following the Homestead Act of 1862, a Nebraska senator named J. Sterling Morton passed the Timber Culture acts of 1873, giving homesteaders an additional quarter section of land if they would plant 40 acres of trees and maintain them for ten years.  There was even a tax deduction if the landowner planted one acre with 100 fruit trees.  The same senator started the Arbor Day celebration in Nebraska City to celebrate tree planting.  Of course the settlers from the east had no idea that trees and prairie land made for strange bedfellows, and many of the trees became diseased and died.  But the ones around Nebraska City took and became an anomaly in an otherwise austere landscape.

I don’t know if Johnny appleseed ever came as far west as Nebraska but we sang the Johnny Appleseed song for grace before meals at girl scout camp in Nebraska City. Johnny Appleseed’s legacy was a perfect Midwest cocktail of religion, conservation and fertility. Appleseed (1774-1845) was a traveling pioneer nursery man who was given seeds from apple mills that were trying to drum up more business.  He went around the Midwest proselytizing for the Swedenborgian church and planting and nurturing apple orchards. I’m sure many of the apples that ended up in mom’s pies were from this region.

Ever since I was eye height to the kitchen table I remember my mother’s pie ritual.  Pie making was an activity revered in my young mind, right up there with playdough, colorforms and fall leaves pressed in wax paper.  When mom got out the rolling pin and cloth sock for the rolling pin, the pie crimper and a vinyl mat with several different circumference diagrams for the top and bottom crust, the party was on.   She must have learned from her mother as each step was automatic and resulted in the same delicious and perfect juicy pies.

Mom used winesap apples for her pies and would peel them in one perfect spiral. We could play with the left over dough and make little pies if there was enough, and I loved forming it into various shapes.  I tasted the ingredients every step of the way: the dough, bland and smooth, then the apples tossed in lemon juice and spices, crisp with an inkling of flavor that would soon be transformed through baking.

Years ago I was visiting a friend on Vashon Island outside of Seattle.  She made a wonderful applesauce by slicing apples from her trees with one orange and one lemon sliced thin. The fruit was laid out on a cookie sheet, baked, and then smashed together.  This is my variation on the recipe.  This uses no sugar, in fact I put a dash of salt on the apples.  Also I zest the lemons as rinds can be tough and I added some chopped ginger.  The skins add a great texture and are very healthy.  Along with Gastronomeg, most of my generation tend to forgo the apple peeling, I guess we are just too busy or into the health factor.  My farmers market carries many heirloom apples. I try different ones each time, usually a combo of sweet and tart baking apples: Rome, Gingergold, Empire, Fuji, Ashmead Kernels.

I serve this sauce with marinated pork chops, pork roast, or chorizo and it’s also great with potato pancakes with crème freiche.   The addition of chopped ginger and citrus really brighten up the sauce.

Roasted Apple Applesauce

6-7 apples, a mixture of sweet and tart baking apples

juice and zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange

2 T. chopped fresh ginger

pinch of sea salt

Quarter, core and cut the quarters of the apples into 3 or 4 slices and cut the slices in half, leave the skin on.  Zest the lemon and orange, chop the zest and put it aside and toss a small amount of lemon juice with the apples and add the chopped ginger.

Take a large baking sheet with sides, rub it with butter, and put the apple slices down. Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt

Bake at 400 for 30 minutes

Put into a bowl and mash with the zest, add more lemon and orange juice if needed.  It should be chunky, the consistency of a chutney.

Marinated pork chops

4 pork chops

1 lemon

½ cup olive oil

chopped garlic

thyme

red chili flakes

sea salt

marinate pork chops (using the rest of the ingredients) for 1 hour before cooking

sear in hot pan for 3-4 minutes each depending on thickness, deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine or cider and pour over pork chop, serve  with applesauce.

A perfect fall dinner complemented with sautéed spinach, a bitter green or brussels sprouts paired with an  Alsatisan white, either pinot blanc or riesling.

Fall means apples – part 1

 

Gastronomeg:

Fall means apples, of course, but specifically to me it means bright pink applesauce. Every year in recent memory, we’ve made batches of applesauce from the red-veined apples that fall (copiously in good years; in less auspicious ones we have to be quick to beat the deer to the punch) from the tree that grows behind the old barn cellar at my mother’s house. For years we referred to this tree as the “Duchess Apple Tree.” But lately,  with further research, we discovered that it probably isn’t a Duchess, after all.

At any rate, it is a good thing that this tree’s apples make such good sauce, since they aren’t good for much else – they’re too small to eat, have mealy flesh, and are not good keepers. But the apples cook down easily and the sauce is brightly colored from the red veins, with a nice balance of tart and sweet – it doesn’t need more than a touch of sugar (in some years none) and never more than the merest whisper of cinnamon. More seasoning would cover up the great apple flavor, but a tiny bit serves to bring it more sharply into focus, like salt does in baking or with savory food

As I learn more about apple trees, I am increasingly curious about the origin of this and other fortuitous old backyard apple trees. Who knows what variety it really is (if any ‘variety’ at all). We suppose that it was planted deliberately (the placement beside an old barn seems unlikely to be accidental), but whether it was a lucky seed or a carefully grafted cutting, it is now impossible to tell.

The first thing you learn when  you learn anything about apple varieties is that apple trees do not breed true from seed.  Since they (necessarily, as they are not ‘self fertile’) cross-pollinate with other nearby apple trees, an apple seed winds up being a random sampling from a large sea of genetic soup. You never know what exactly you’re going to get from a seed. This explains why apples in the woods are hit or miss, and mainly miss – what in cider making would be called ‘bitters.’ But I recall, from childhood equine rambles, occasionally coming across a tree with sweet, reasonably edible golden-fleshed apples that had resulted from a happy mingling of wild apples with the remnants of old cider orchards that are found near ruined house cellars all over the Vermont woods.

The only way to be sure that an apple variety is going to be what you want it to be is to propagate vegetatively – that is, to take a cutting from the tree you want and graft its living tissue (cambium) onto the cambium of another tree’s rootstock. The tissues will grow into one another and, above the graft, you will have an exact genetic copy of the tree you wanted to propagate. It is possible to graft as many varieties onto a rootstock as it has branches, creating a novelty tree of multiple varieties.

New varieties can be selectively bred, of course, and this is what is done these days (and these days more likely under a microscope than in the field). But in olden times, new apples were more often the result of happy accidents than careful breeding, either when a roadside or hedgerow tree from a dropped seed was found to produce especially good apples or when a batch of seeds (usually planted by settlers for cider-making) turned out a tree that produced something better than the run-of-the mill bitters. A new variety was then declared and reproduced from cuttings. “Heirloom” varieties can be traced back to these chance happenings, although fine trees were often reproduced mainly on a local scale. It is fun to think that when you eat a Baldwin apple today, you are eating an apple that has genetic makeup that is essentially identical to the original tree that was found in Wilmington, Massachusetts.*

These ideas (and more) were rehashed for me at Scott Farm’s annual heirloom apple tasting over Columbus Day weekend. We tasted 15 different apple varieties (out of the 70 that are grown on the farm!) and were regaled with stories of their origin by Zeke, the orchardist, who is a wealth of information (and whose sense of humor is as tart as some of his apples).  The favorites among our group, which included the California contingent of my family, here on a baby-worshipping mission, were the spicy/tart Esopus Spitzenburg, the creamy-fleshed and sweet Roxbury Russet, and the sweet/tart Ashmead’s Kernel. We acquired two bags of  mixed apples and proceeded to churn out apple desserts (pie, and a delicious crumble) for days.  Per Zeke’s urgings, we limited our cinnamon usage to the bare minimum (actually, he advised none at all, but our habits die hard. We used only a dash, we swear!) to enjoy the pure apple flavors of the old varieties.  These desserts were a revelation for the complexity of flavor given by using multiple kinds of apples, and interesting apples at that, in a dish.

Of course none of these fine apples went into something as lowly as applesauce, but my summation of applesauce advice works along the same lines. To get good applesauce (and by that I mean flavorful and interesting), use good, preferably sweet-tart, apples. If you don’t have something wonderful (like my mom’s formerly-known-as-Duchess apples), use a mix of apple varieties. Last year you could get big bags of mixed apples for $2 at Union Square. Sadly, due to an early-summer hail storm, most growers decided not to turn on their coolers for winter storage, so they were selling apples off at fire sale prices. We profited from the loss with many good batches of applesauce. If you go to ‘pick-your-own’ places, you can also ask about getting a crate of seconds or ground-falls (in the country sometimes called ‘deer apples,’ which I thought sounded nice until I saw some rather unsporting hunters loading them in their rifle-bedecked truck).  At any rate, no fancy apples are needed for applesauce; just cut off the bad bits.

When making applesauce, I always leave the skin on since it adds color and a bit of flavor. Plus, who wants to peel 5 pounds or more of apples?  So here’s my applesauce recipe:  Cut the cores out of  at least 5 pounds of apples. Put the cut apples in a deep pot to steam, with a few inches of water in the bottom (if you can keep the apples out of the water, all the better; I find the pasta insert of my pasta/stock pot works well). Cook until the apples are soft (they’ll start to puff up off the skins), turning a couple of times to make sure they’re all evenly cooked.  Then run the cooked apples through a hand-cranked food mill (an indispensable kitchen tool, for me – perfect for applesauce and also potatoes, which can’t go in the Cuisinart); you can use either the coarse or medium screen, if yours is adjustable, depending on how chunky you like your sauce. It’s the food mill that allows you to leave the skins on, since it presses the fruit off the skins for you. Taste for seasoning and add a bit of sugar and a whiff of cinnamon to taste (go easy; it needs less than you think to bring the flavors into focus without covering them up. I’ve been known to stop at 2 TBSP of sugar and a dash of cinnamon for two quarts of applesauce, and often don’t sweeten at all). Applesauce can be easily frozen or canned (pack into sterilized jars and process pints for 20 mins in a boiling-water bath).

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* Or nearly so, depending on how many generations your tree is removed from the first tree. There can be slight mutations as the tree is reproduced from subsequent iterations with different rootstock, etc. But since “heirlooms” have never been widely reproduced for commercial use, they generally tend to be close to the original.

 

RIP GOURMET- THANKS FOR THE INSPIRATION!

Carlita:

To quote George Harrison “All things must pass” and so will Gourmet magazine after 68 years of publication.  The “foodie world” has been holding wakes on and off line and wondering what is the future of food journalism.   Surely the emergence of the food network and online food blogs have been stiff competition.  Many years ago as a young sous chef I would pick up back issues of Gourmet for a dollar in a used bookstore for inspiration.  I still have my Saveur and occasionally pick up Art of Eating and will have to re-visit Food and Wine  once again.

These are the things I will miss most about Gourmet:

-                 Great cover art – the last few years the cover design has become more minimal with gorgeous yummy close up photos of food, playing up texture and color with a stunning contrasting background, A+ for design

-                 Letter from the editor – I’m sure we will be hearing a lot more from Ruth Reichl but I will miss her monthly observations and how she brought the fancy pants travel/gourmet magazine back down to earth.

-                 Jane and Michael Stern’s Roadfood – a couple of former art historian’s who landed the perfect job,  I’m so jealous of you two!

-                 Articles on current issues and politics of food – under Ruth Reichl, Gourmet started to offer articles about food politics.  Anyone who is a food or wine enthusiast knows the origins of food and how it’s grown is the key to great ingredients.

-                 Fantasy dinner party photo shoots-will someone please invite me to one of these shindigs!

-                 The Thanksgiving issue- includes several traditions along with a vegetarian option, they really cover all the bases.

-                 Good Living-Obsessions, recommendations of tools and stuff from various food peeps.

-                 The August harvest issue – coverage on different farms and coops.

-      The special collector’s issues on France and Italy – luckily I’ve saved a few…….

Love letter to Paul, Flatiron Sept. 09

The word love gets tossed around a lot these days.  Outside of familial and romantic love, there are books written and movies made about the love of pets, wine and pork belly.  We simply love to talk about whatever we have elevated to that “love” level.

Which brings me to last weekend, when I had a reunion with my New York restaurant ‘family’ up at the Flatiron Steakhouse in Redhook, New York.  We all worked together at a restaurant in midtown for too many years to count – but even now that we have moved on to bigger and better things, we still share that “love bond” that only people in the dining trenches would understand.

The former chef (Craig Stafford) and bartender (Jessica Stingo) of our clan opened the Flatiron Bistro in Redhook, New York, a little over a year ago.  I  have to say that I love, love, love these people and apparently so does the rest of Hudson Valley. The restaurant is thriving and recently won best new steakhouse in Hudson Valley.

The weekend love-fest was a celebration of a visit from Paul, our former general manager, who left 3 years ago to return home to Australia. There is something about Aussies: it seems they have the hospitality business in their DNA.  Paul could charm a collar off a hungry tiger.   The most difficult customers were putty in his hands.  Paul introduced us to Kylie Minoque and cut crystal vodka shots. His British wit and humor, style and warmth earned him a following and customers were hopelessly devoted to him.  He now runs the private dining room for J.P. Morgan in Sydney.  To celebrate Paul’s visit we all decided to gather for the weekend up in Red Hook at Jess and Craig’s and feast at the Flatiron.

Redhook is just minutes away from the more upscale town of Rhinebeck – but it is recently becoming a hot restaurant scene in its own right.  Flatiron is on the main drag.  The restaurant is  not flashy — decorated with neutral colors with black and white photos adorning the walls. The vegetables and meat are sourced locally when possible and the menu changes seasonally. But at its heart, the menu is centered around steaks (flatiron, flank, filet and rib-eye, with a 5 oz. or  8 oz. portion size) with a variety of sauces and sides to choose from.  Each visit I have a new favorite sauce — chimicurri, homemade steak sauce, pecorino truffle fondue.   There is also an inventive burger menu which offers duck with duck egg and cracklin’s,  merguez spiced lamb,  traditional beef and roasted eggplant with brown rice.  In addition there are several fish and seafood options along with oysters, raw and roasted.  Craig’s roasted oysters are not to be missed! I used to say I prefer raw, but I have been swayed to the other side with these.

The night began at the bar with a cheese plate and some Muscadet before we moved to our table. The bar is in the front of the restaurant and has a great selection of small batch bourbon, local and imported beers, tap and bottle and a great cocktail list.  Chris the bartender is sexy, sassy and knowledgeable.  He went to the CIA and also worked in a local brewery.  It is great to have a bartender who knows food and wine and has an educated opinion.

Wine-wise, we started off the main part of the evening with the Tablas Creek ‘Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc’ 2006.  Produced by the Chateau de Beaucastel’s California property, it is fashioned after a white Chatauneuf-du-pape with Rousanne and Grenache blanc.  It was soft, buttery and honeyed, with a dry mineral finish — a perfect full bodied white that screams ‘it’s autumn!’  At this point the appetizers just streamed out of the kitchen.  First roasted oysters and a crab salad with avocado, garbanzos, radish and frisee – this was a meal in itself, a perfect contrast of textures and flavors.  Then came the  local quail and an amazing steak tartare with fried parsley.

At this point I felt completely sated; every dish was so complete and satisfying I could have stopped here.  And one of the many brilliant details at the Flatiron is the warm roll that comes with a small ramiken of butter with sea salt.   Just one perfect little roll, crusty on the outside and pillowy on the inside.  Bread is a hard sell these low-carb days, but it is so great to have one small round of perfection.  Jessica does all the in house baking, besides the rolls there are English muffins for the burgers and bread sticks for the bar.

We plowed on, opening a bottle of 1999 Malvira Trinita for the entrees.  This was amazing nebbiolo from Roero, a region just north of Barolo which has become more known for its white wines (especially Arneis).  It was the perfect time for this vintage – we enjoyed the clean red fruit that is set off by earth and tar notes, an herbaceous nose, and supple tannins.  By the way, the logo on the bottle is one of the best in Piedmont and would make a fine tattoo. I ordered a filet au poivre with a potato artichoke gratin. If you’re going to go the steak and potatoes route, this is the road to take, in my opinion.  Paul went big with the 16oz. porterhouse which he declared to have a perfect fat/meat ratio.

Wow, this was really a tremendous and memorable meal.  Thanks Jess and Craig, we love Love LOVE the Flatiron, and see you in another three Paul…………..

DOUGLAS CULHANE AT JOHN DAVIS GALLERY, HUDSON, NY

This weekend I headed up to Hudson to see my friend Douglas Culhane’s sculptures at John Davis Gallery on Warren Street. The Gallery has a shell of an old carriage house in back of the gallery building.   Open in the warm months, the carriage house faces the gallery with a garden in between for sculpture exhibits.  I love climbing the narrow staircase from floor to floor investigating the small rooms filled with paintings, sculpture and installations.  Doug’s sculptures were at home in this space with a wood fence and gravel yard.  This work reminds me of old machines given a new life, parts coming together to create a function that has not quite revealed itself.  They also reference carts and wheelbarrels, objects that are meant to ease the transport of other objects.  Teter-tottering between playful and sinister, the forms are scaled for human interaction.  Several pieces such as Wain and Hook-Cage Steel, are set within a rectangle which contain and constrain the

elements inside.  These pieces are suggestive of the drawing process, possessing the lyrical quality of contour lines.   Fran Shalom is showing upstairs and many other artists in the carriage house, check out the website.

When you’re done gallery hopping in Hudson stop by the p.m. wine bar on lower Warren Street.  They have a great selection of wines with a focus on Spain, tapas and a piano for performing.  The storefront’s  design is reminiscent of “old hudson” with some quirky touches.  PM now has a full bar and the very best white sangria I’ve had yet this summer!