BENNIE SPEAKS: Parent & child

Here are the things I know about my father: he’s a chef, he likes to blow shit up and he’s got a ‘special’ sense of humor. Wow, three things…that’s pathetic.

Okay…let’s start over: before I started these lessons this I all I really knew. My father and I lost connection for a while. It was a mixture of me going from being child to teenager – me shrinking into myself – him not understanding how to reach out to his kid – who was obviously miserable. My dad loves me, but in those days my temper was even more unpredictable than it is now. This failure to understand and reach out was both of our faults, neither of us really knew how to communicate with each other anymore and it was uncomfortable and awkward for some time.

However, things feel different now…there’s been a shift.  That shift started this summer after I asked him to teach me how to cook.  I swear – his face lit up. That’s when it really hit me: this is something he really cares about, this is his passion. You can’t do something for 40-plus years and not care. Well, I guess there are people like that out there but we typically call them sad sacks because they’re f**king miserable with life…but not my old man. He loves what he does. Which is awesome!

My first lessons I learned to make stir fry, not particularly complicated, but it wasn’t about “being complicated”.  I’ll never forget how he looked at me: with pride and excitement, here his little girl was finally showing interest in something that has been his lifelong passion. We enjoyed the meal together and a great conversation.  It was like a breath of fresh air after years of suffocation. Dramatic description? Perhaps, but it felt so nice to have it just be us, eating a meal that I basically cooked by myself, and to see that glow-y ridiculously happy look in his eyes. Don’t get me wrong, my dad’s not a hard man to please but there something extra special about that ‘my daughter is taking an interest in my passions too!’ look that makes me feel giggly.

Like most kids, I want my parents to be proud and pleased with who I am and what I do, this is especially true of my father. I’ve always been a ‘daddy’s girl’; as a child I felt closer to him than my mother. He just “got” me better than she did, we’re similar in our personalities and our humor. Now food is also something we have in common.

So, since my relationship with my dear old dad is on the mend, I want to share some parenting advice – I know I’m no parent (nor do I ever wish to be one), but this advice is still valid none the less: cook with your kids. Seriously, my best memories of both my parents are when we were either eating together or I was pretending to be helpful in the kitchen while really just ‘supervising’. Cooking with your child is important because not only can you help them create healthy eating habits but you also get to bond while having legitimate fun with your offspring…. it’s a win-win. What a person eats is literally in direct correlation with their temperament and mental status. Don’t believe me? Just look up the countless studies that say ‘the more sugary, fatty, fake, gross shit your kid eats, the meaner and stupider they get’. Plus, lets not forget the ever growing obesity issue we have: if you eat right and set a good example of what’s good food…then ‘young grasshopper’ is sure to follow. I did (and I’m only mean sometimes).

My journey with food has only just started, but already I’m telling my dad ‘hey lets make this’, obviously he couldn’t be more excited. As stupid as this sounds, food actually brought me, Bennie, back to my dad, Boomer. Food, or rather discussions of food have opened up the rusty communication channels between us once again and now a steady stream of talking has started. So, to all you hopeless parents of teenagers who are getting the silent treatment and/or perhaps the one fingered wave (a favorite of mine) tell your beloved little smart ass that tonight you’re going to cook together, whether you have to drag them kicking and screaming or just in a full on pout…they’ll thank you for it later, promise.

-Bennie

I have been relatively quiet the past year – not venturing out much beyond the perimeter of my yard, all else irrelevant. I have been deep in thought, contemplating what forty years of cooking means and how I will use that experience moving forward.  Exploring new territory, finding the right path takes time and there are often many false starts.  In the past, the answer to this pondering seems to appear in a flash – a moment of lucid insight.  Such a moment occurred last fall.  It has taken another 7 months to pull the pieces together and regain momentum.

The bolt of lightning struck me when I was talking to my #2 #1 daughter – Bennie.  She was complaining about “caf” food at college.  She spent the previous summer working out, walking and eating right.  After returning to school, she said the food she was eating was making her gain weight and feel bad.  Actually what she said was: “the food at school sucks.” (She does not pull punches, nor does she adopt the language of her father, whose profession required him to develop a more tactful way.)

She went on to offer a solution.  “I asked mom for a food allowance next year and she said she would do it, but I had to take some cooking instruction from you.”  Whoa!  Then the bolt of lightning.  What an opportunity.  My entire career I have been teaching – touting the virtues of the “Table”.  Now, my own child, who has basically ignored any involvement in food preparation, is asking me to show her how to cook.

The implications of that request took awhile to sink in.  At Thanksgiving, I realized what I needed to do was write a cookbook for her.  I started journaling.  An early excerpt:

“I won’t speculate on the odd convergence of events or wonder if the Universe has a design or wonder if there is a Devine Plan…This is one of those miraculous moments.  Having finally stepped away from the world of the professional kitchen and trying to line up my next creative adventure, it seems to me all the pieces are falling into a magical place.”

“How do I gently nurture this wonderful creature into my realm that sometimes is plainly a lot of work…”

And so, the journey of Bennie and Boomer has begun.  We are writing the book together.

In this contemplative and sometimes chaotic place I have been since leaving the restaurant kitchen, my brain has been racing.  Bennie and I have been negotiating how these “lessons” would work.  I did not want to be a chef training an apprentice, nor did she.  We were both clear enough in our thinking to realize this was about empowerment, about sharing with each other an adventure together whose vehicle is cooking and whose goal was food choice.  Our time together this summer has become so much more.

Our book is titled Bennie & Boomer: Recreating the home-cooked meal in the 21st century. It will be told in episodes and self-published, available online. The first episode due this fall.  It will be a comic book and embedded within the story are QR links, allowing our readers to view “the interesting & instructive stuff”; a picture is worth a thousand words.  We are working together to distill the kitchen into a simple and understandable place.  More importantly, it is a place where we have been having a lot of fun, as well as amazing conversations.  The real story is about our relationship.

THE OTHER NIGHT

High Holy Holiday of Boom and all – downtown for fireworks on Sunday, cookouts galore on Monday, a wild fireworks display at an unnamed farm in Fairview…(any need to explain where Boomer’s name came from?).  Coming home from Hominy Valley and packing up my “tools” for Fairview, I dash into the kitchen to music, a happy young woman dancing – smiling, pasta flying.

Boomer: “Hey, what’s up?  You seem happy.” Bennie: “I cooked  dinner!”

On Wednesday, Bennie’s friend has come over, on a night we had planned to do some cooking together.  Instead, I sat at the kitchen counter and gave a little direction – “turn the heat down”, “here’s a recipe for black walnut pesto – it is based on a classic from Italy”.  “How about a Watermelon Cucumber Salad with lemon, mint, basil and olive oil dressing?”  The two friends cook together, Bennie telling me later “You just disappeared, faded away, we didn’t even know you were there….”

The next Saturday, I am out, as is Bennie and her friend.  I get home before they do.  I hear them come in, lively conversation and music in the kitchen.  In the morning, I am up early, on my way to cook and lecture at Warren Wilson College.  The kitchen in a mess.  “Damn it….”  the thought flies through my head and then clears, as I realize Bennie and her friend came home and cooked a meal together, sharing late night hours of friendship.  The song in my head is sung by Cecilia Bartoli with a back drop of a Blue & Silver 12-incher bursting over head….pure joy.

Blue & Silver 12-Inch Shell By Ned Gorski, PGI Grand Master from French Broad on Vimeo.

Black Walnut Pesto Sauce

makes 4 to 5 cups

2 tablespoons pinenuts (geez, these are expensive)

1 tablespoon black walnuts

2 tablespoons pecans

1 teaspoon of salt

4 – 5 tellicherry peppercorrns

3 cloves of fresh garlic, peeled

2 ounces of butter (that would be 1/2 of a stick, or 4 tablespoons)

3 cups of basil

4 ounces of grated parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil, approximately

Method: In a blender or a food processor, add the nuts, the garlic, the salt & pepper and 1/2 cup olive oil.  “Pulse” blend it until the nuts are coarsely chopped.  Start the blender again, and add some of the basil, allowing it to process and become smooth before adding the next amount.  Add oil as need to keep it flowing, then blend until smooth, finishing with the cheese.

Keep refrigerated.

More to follow…

Cooking with the garden can be a real challenge.  Tonight, I am working with “The Box” that I have gotten from Jake’s Farm CSA.  As always, my approach is “what technique can I use” to cook once, eat twice?  This week, I am working with little packages – foil pouches filled with different and wonderful vegtables that I can cook once and use many times in the week.

Another guiding priciple is that is should be simple to do, not complicated.  To be in control, it is good to understand technique. Tonight, I am using pouches made of aluminum foil, in this case “non-stick” foil – another modern invention.  I have made small packages of foil by first folding over a 12″ piece of foil, then folding the ends 3 or 4 times to seal the ends, then filling the pouches with various combinations of stuff.

So, the techinque is this:  fill a pouch of foil with your ingredients, seal it and then roast it.  You can use the heat of the oven or at this time of the year, fire up the charcoal grill and throw the packages into the coals.  Cook the vegetables until you are happy with how done they are, for me, it really doesn’t matter, excpet with potatoes ( I do not like “cripsy” potatoes, they should be soft and creamy).  Pull the packages out of the oven or fire and serve or allow to cool and eat later.

Three Delicious Package of Simplicity.

In my box from Jake’s Farm this week, I have potaotes, garlic, onions, and celery.  From Full Sun Farm I picked up little patty pan squash, carrots, and cherry tomatoes.  From my garden I have thyme, basil, and marjoram.  From the larder there is Benton’s smoked bacon, coriander seed and szecheuan pepper, lemon and olive oil.  From the city of Asheville I have water.

Package #1: Baby patty pan squash, cherry tomatoes, a little garlic, basil, marjoram, salt, pepper and olive oil.  Seal it up and cook it. 4oo° F for 30 minutes.

Package #2: Carrots, celery, onions, a few lemon slices, marjoram, thyme, salt, pepper, coriander seed, szechuan peppercorns, salt, and “City Stock” (water).

Package #3: New potatoes, garlic (lots), onion, a piece of bacon cut into little cubes, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper.

All sealed tightly, in the oven for 3o minutes or so.  Into the coals of a charcoal fire even better.  Do not fret, stress or consider what you do “wrong”, after all the wisdom is Trial & Error, so go for it, keep it deliciosus and simple.

Eat & Enjoy

-Mark Rosenstein

What’s In The Box is in full swing, following along with the ripening of most of the vegetables we will be seeing for the summer.  This week when I went to the tailgate market, I had to tell myself: “Mark – LEAVE NOW – you have more food than you can cook or eat”.  The difference of one week is astounding.  Tomatoes are in season, the summer squashes are abundant, cabbages, berries, herbs, lettuces, onions, garlic and the bounty goes on.  All this food presents a challenge – what to do with it and how to manage and plan a weekly menu, especially if all arrives in one day in a CSA share.

To assist with this and to share my cooking experience, the classes I have been teaching are following what you might get in a CSA share or select at the tailgate markets.  My routine is this: I am at the market both on Wednesday and on Saturday, checking out what is freshest.  I am receiving a box from Jake’s Farm and I go out to Fullsun Farm in Sandy Mush every other week and do a “spontaneous” menu from their garden, planning out my lessons.

The series of classes build on previous lessons.  Each class has a number of components – a helpful technique, one or more of my “Paint Pots”, a menu and recipes for everything demonstrated in the class.  For example, this week I taught the technique of “dry charring” in on a CHAPA – basically a hot iron plate or a large iron skillet.  the paint pots were a Massaman style curry and basil mint pesto.  You can download a copy of this week’s class here:  WHAT’S IN THE BOX – June 22_Recipes.

In additon to the classes, I have also been cooking with my #2 – #1 daughter; Bennie, sharing important, but simple, recipes and techniques with her.  All this adds up to a refined approach to cooking and enjoyment of the flavors of our local gardens.  I think of it this way: SIMPLY.  GOOD.

COME TO ONE OF THE CLASSES!

-MARK ROSENSTEIN

In astronomy, when a new telescope is opened to the skies it is known as “First Light”.  This week we have “Tomato – First Light”  I wil be teaching this recipe in class this week.

This weekend at the tailgate the experience was eye-popping!  It was a carnival of color, textures, smells and flavors.  The nine month wait for the first real tomatoes of the season was over.  Before I arrived, I knew it was happening, as a matter of fact, I made a “tomato reservation”,  leaving Vanessa Campbell an email at mid-night on Thursday asking her to set aside some tomatoes for me.  I went to bed Friday in anticipation of going to market in the morning.  I was not disappointed.

I am going to skip over the details, with one exception – I worked in Lake Lure on Saturday night, heading directly there from market, taking with me my precious tomatoes.  Having ample supplies, I shared some of my bounty with a good friend there at the Lodge on Lake Lure – but I did not give him one of my tomatoes.  He’s a friend, but not that good of a friend.

I am on a roll.  I have been cooking everyday now for weeks.  Moving into new and simple teritorry, as I experiment and create recipes that in my head I call:  SIMPLY. GOOD.

While the dish I am about to describe has many layers, the central theme, and the only one I implore you to try is the CHAPA ROASTED TOMATO.  Inspired by Francis Mallman’s cooking over open fire and on super heated iron, I have taken his method of cooking on a “chapa” and adapted it to the home kitchen.  I have shared my passion for iron previously and the method of dry searing is an extension of cooking in iron.  A chapa is a large, flat iron plate heated over a large outdoor fire.  Your chapa is your large iron skillet.

The principle is simple.  Heat a dry, well seasoned iron skillet over medium heat and cook vegetables without oil until they have formed a charred crust, carefully release them from the skillet and turn them over, char them on the second side.  The results are AMAZING!

CHAPA ROASTED TOMATO “FIRST LIGHT” WITH ARUGULA PESTO, GOAT CHEESE AND PURPLE LEAF ROMAINE WITH ROASTED LEMON MAYONAISE.

Here’s how you do it.  Starting with the Roasted Lemon Mayonaise – take a lemon, rub it with olive oil and put it in a shallow ceramic roasting dish.  Place it in a 425° F oven.  Roast it until it has started to lose its juice and the juice is beoming caramelized.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  Cut the lemon in half, remove the seeds and then with a very sharp stainless knife, chop into small pieces.  Place all the lemon, roasted juices and pulf into a blend with 4 tablespoons of water, puree as smooth as possible and then pass the puree through a fine strainer to remove any unblended bits, resulting in a smooth puree.  Season with salt and pepper and whip in olive oil to form a “mayonaise”.  Set aside for later.

The tomato I started with was a monster, weighing close to two pounds!  I cut out the stem and then cut the tomato in half, cutting a little off the top and the bottom to make all sides flat.  Season with a little salt and pepper.  Heat an iron skillet as described above and sear it on both sides, cooking long enought to form a charred curst.  Turn over carefully and char the second side.   Loosen the tomato from the pan, turn off the heat and let it sit in the pan as you assemble the dish.

Clean some lettuce, in this case, I paired Full Sun Farms tomato with a purple tipped romaine lettuce from Jake’s Farm.  (both farms follow organic practices, Jake’s is certified).  Season the lettuce with a little salt and pepper.  Spoon a little Roasted Lemon Mayonaise onto the plate and place the cleaned lettuce on the mayonaise.  Spoon a little fresh goat cheese onto the plate, such as one from Spinning Spider Creamery or Three Graces.  Place the tomato on the plate and top with a little arugula pesto.  (You DO have some arugula pesto on hand, don’t you?  If not here is the link to making arugula pesto).  I also made some basil pesto today, but had he last of the arugula pesto on hand, so I used that.  Toss a few slices of a hearth baked levain from Wake Robin Farms Bakery or Farm & Sparrow.

Tomato First Light was beautiful, a beautiful mouthful of sun-heated reddness and green.

And the beauty of it all, tomorrow, I have another half to eat with that fresh basil pesto.

-Mark Rosenstein

Gardens are in full riot now and I have been cooking as much as I ever have.  My schedule is pretty busy.  Every other week I am out at FULL SUN FARM, cooking “on the fly” for the crew.  I help a little in the garden, then harvest whatever is best and head into Vanessa and Alexs’ kitchen to feed crew and family.  The process is my experimental think tank of what to do with what is fresh and best.  It is how I used to cook when I first stared cooking, the difference is now I have 40 years of experience to apply to the task.

This is the Full Sun menu from last week: Beet Soup with carrots, onions, fennel, collard greens with cider vinegar and sour cream.  Beans & Greens: pressure cooked black-eyed peas, onion, yokatta-na, mizspoona, purple mustard, beet greens and arugula pesto.  Green Salad with peas, kohl rabi, lettuces with toasted sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, soy with toasted sesame seeds.  Green Fried Tomatoes.

For the month of June, every Tuesday evening I head out to Amanda and Jeremy Sizemores’ farm – CANE CREEK VALLEY FARM and teach a class, all from ingredients that they produce.  Dinner is included in the class.  Here are my class notes from the first week.  RECIPES-CANE CREEK VALLEY FARM June 7.

On alternate weeks, I have a class in my home titled “What’s In The Box”.   This week I develed into the box from JAKE’S FARM.  The theme is using what someone might get in their CSA box for the week. Broccoli, lemon grass, arrow head cabbage, chard, collards, 8-ball squash, lancinato kale, spring onion became: 8-Ball Zucchini & Yellow Squash with basil, mint & lemon.  Steamed Onions with Chard and Arugula Pesto Filled “Blett”. Rice with a Soubise of Spring Onions and Lemon Grass.  Kimchi of Arrowhead Cabbage, Collards and Garlic Onions with Ginger.

And finally, here is the email I received from Anna & Paul Littman at IVY CREEK FAMILY FARM:

Hello Saturday Farm Members!

And here is my reply:

Hi,

SUNDAY, AUGUST 21 – SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 – All classes 3 PM – 7 PM

Sunday, August 21 – END OF SUMMER, NO WAY ?! – Cook once, eat twice – Cook the “Grand Meal” using the wood-fired oven, all things from the end of Summer’s Garden Riot – tomatoes, corn, squashes and green things paired with the beauty of local pork, slow simmered and juicy, all mopped up with hearth baked bread.  Then eat it again for leftovers, planning for leftovers.  Learn to drink wine and cook at the same time.

Sunday, September 18 – “PRESSING MATTERS” – Time for apples!  Press apples in Wake Robin Farm’s 1878 vintage fruit mill, cook with cider, cook chicken with apples and cider, cook cider & apple dishes in the wood-fired oven and outdoor grill.  Learn to drink sparkling cider with two-hands.

The complete charge for each class, dinner and drinks is $75 per person.  Or, $200 for all three.  Space is strictly limited, so please reserve early.  Payment is required for registration/two weeks prior to the class.  Please register early, as all previous classes have sold out early.  For additional information send email to contact@thefrenchbroad.com or call Gail Lunsford/Steven Bardwell 828.683.2902

REGISTRATION: Use the form below to register.  You may register multiple people at one time, provided you list all the names in your group.  Registration subject to availability.

Please log in to PayPal to pay for the classes.  Thank you.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

WAKE ROBIN CLASSES

ONE $75.00 TWO – Same Date $150.00 ALL THREE $200.00 ALL THREE x2 $400.00 TWO – Different Dates $150.00 TWO x2 Different Dates $300.00

COOKING CLASSES AT WAKE ROBIN FARM with MARK ROSENSTEIN

SUNDAY, JULY 17 – SUNDAY, AUGUST 21 – SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 18

“WHAT’S IN THE BOX” – Learn to cook with season!  Using the food one will find  in a CSA offering or at the local tailgate, this bi-montly demonstration will teach techniques and provide recipes and a menu for a week’s dining.  Open to all.  SATURDAY, JULY 9TH CLASS IS FULL.

“BATTLE OF THE QUEENS”  OCTOBER 22 – 27, 2011 -An Italian Exploration, a weeklong  journey of  traditional country Italian cuisine with Mark and friends, music and  hiking the trails of scenic Aosta, Italy.