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,

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread-and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness-
O, Wilderness were Paradise enow!…Omar Khayyam

I have been a chef for 38 years.  Nothing I have done is more difficult than making a great loaf of bread!

Such a simple food – bread.  Four ingredients, flour, water, salt and yeast.  Yet, the variations of these simple, ancient and essential ingredients produces endless results.  When handled with a masterly hand nothing is more satisfying.  Even though I made bread everyday for 38 years, I confess, it was never great.  Now, without other concerns, I can focus attention to perfecting that craft, it might take, perhaps, another 38 years to master.  Hopefully not.

My kitchen is a snow storm of flour dust, the birds in my yard waddle, as I have stuffed them full of stale failures and my neighbors are cringing when they see me walking up the street with a little brown paper bag.  I have wild yeast cultures clinging to cabinets, my drains are clogged with soggy dough.  Bread is becoming my steady diet – toast for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, parmesan crusted croutons floating in dinner’s soup.  I am determined to make great bread.

Bread making is a humbling craft.

The wisdom of bread making resides in the hands.  Learning the feel of bread, knowing how to shape, and understanding the proper “spring” of a fermented loaf can only be learned by touching.  Nothing is more satisfying than good bread, and nothing is better than good bread you have made yourself.

To that end, I continue my education of wheat – and I will share some of my discoveries for your own experiments.  Making bread is one of those transformational experiences – it connects you with all of history, to agriculture, to the craft guilds of old Europe, and the mysteries of yeast and fermentation.  Making bread by hand, above all, satisfies.

Today, having baked more loaves, it is time to relax – with some liquid bread…cheers

-Mark Rosenstein

Saturday’s class featured four ingredients – arugula, pea shoots, baby turnips and leeks.  (If you were to visit Italy this month, on every local menu you would find: arugula salad, pasta with arugula or arugula stuffed seafood.  No tomatoes!)  The intelligence, of course, is to use what is fresh and seasonal.   For class this week, with the exception of a lemon, all the produce was grown by Missy Huger and Chris Sawyer at Jake’s Farm located in Candler.  They are a certified organic farm, with whom I have been doing business for many years.  (Note on your calendar, tailgate markets open April 17.)

The theme of SATURDAY’S KITCHEN – go to market, come home and prepare the basics for the remainder of the week.  In 3 hours, we prepared the “foundation” for all the recipes featured this week.  My approach is not to teach “recipes” – instead it is to demonstrate techniques and provide a road map of how to get from a starting point (buying at market) to some destination (a meal or menu).  I think I even said “recipes are crutches!”  Ouch.  Demonstrated in a few hours of concentrated work is how to provide many easy, delicious meals for the entire week.  To eat well, you must cook, a little mess in unavoidable, however, do it all at once, the rest is easy.

Here are recipes featuring the first of Spring’s seasonal ingredients.  Later this week, I will post up the cooking “logic” of turning basic ideas into many dishes.

TRECCE DI GIULIETTA (the braids of Juliet) WITH ARUGULA PESTO

4 portions

Preparation time: 3 minutes  Cooking time 10 minutes (once the pot of water boils)  Cut scallion, chop garlic, grate cheese, cook pasta, sauté scallion & garlic

Note:  I often have  a large pot of water on the stove to boil, before I actually get started in the kitchen, I never know if I am going to cook pasta, blanch vegetables or whatever else I might need to cook.  It is a time saver, and something you should do when you first get home.

• 1/2 # Trecce di Giuletta pasta or other
• 2 green scallions, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 3 ounces Reggiano-Parmigiano, grated
• 6 tablespoons of Arugula pesto

Method:  Cook the pasta in salted, boiling water for 10 minutes.  While the pasta is cooking, chop the scallion, dice the garlic.  In a saucepan over medium heat,  heat the olive oil, cook the scallions and the garlic for a few minutes, just until the garlic begins to take on a little color.  Remove from the heat.  When the pasta is cooked, drain completely.  Add the Arugula pesto to the scallions and the garlic, return the saucepan to the stove, toss in the drained pasta, stir a few times with a wooden spoon, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve on a warm plate and place a mound of grated cheese to the side.  Serve.

ARUGULA  PESTO

makes 1/2 cup

• 1 packed cup of arugula
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon finely ground pepper
• 1/3 cup virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup English walnuts (or black walnuts for a more bitter finish)

note: in class we did not add salt & pepper

Method:  In a food processor, place the arugula, walnuts, salt and pepper.  “Pulse” chop the ingredients a few times, then, with the motor running, slowly blend in the oil until a smooth paste is formed.

Use immediately or store in a glass jar in the refrigerator.

PEASHOOT & ARUGULA SALAD WITH MEYER’S LEMON DRESSING

4 portions

• 1 Meyer’s lemon, cut in half, seeds removed
• Virgin Olive oil
• pepper
• 2 hands-full fresh pea shoots
• 2 hands-full fresh arugula
• Reggiano-Parmigiano cheese
• coarse sea salt

Method:  Squeeze the lemon into a mixing bowl.  However much juice there is, add twice that amount of olive oil, adjust to taste.  Season with a dash of pepper, but no salt.  Whisk vigorously.  Toss in the two salad greens, mix well.   Then season with the coarse sea salt.  Portion on salad plates.  Using a vegetable peeler, make some cheese curls to garnish the salad.   Serve.

CHICKEN STUFFED WITH ROASTED LEEKS & TURNIPS

I like  this recipe because of the utility of the cut of chicken.  If you plan wisely, you can achieve a very good yield from one chicken – read this to mean, buying a locally raised chicken can be economical, in spite of it’s higher cost per pound.

For this recipe, I bone the the leg and thigh in one piece, forming a ‘pocket’ which can be stuffed.  There are many ways to keep the stuffing in place – tying with a piece of butcher’s twine, wrapping the leg in a piece of caul fat, wrapping in plastic food film (to poach it) or in this case, wrapping in a piece of aluminum foil to roast it.

4 portions/ as an appetizer, lunch or light dinner entrée

• 2 boneless leg & thigh, attached by the skin
• 6 tablespoons chopped leeks & turnips, roasted
• 3 tablespoons Arugula pesto
• salt, pepper
• olive oil
• 2 pieces aluminum foil, approximately 5″ x 8″

To accompany: Baby turnip greens & a potato galette.

Method: Bone the leg and thigh, leaving them held together by the skin.  Season with salt and pepper.  Chop the vegetables well, season with salt and pepper and mix with one tablespoon of the arugula pesto.  Stuff each leg with 3 tablespoons of the vegetable mixture.  Lightly oil the two aluminum foil pieces, place each stuffed leg on one piece of foil and roll into a “sausage” shape, twisting the ends tightly.  Roast in a moderate oven (350° F) for about 25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and firm.  Remove from the oven.  Keep warm and  rolled in the foil until ready to serve.

Heat the cooked turnip greens, portion the potato galette, arrange both on a 4 warm plates.  Unwrap the chicken, being careful to not spill the juices from cooking.  Slice each leg into four pieces, serve two pieces per portion.  Garnish the plates with the remaining arugula pesto and drizzle the cooking juices over the chicken.  Serve.

…ahhh, delicious

-Mark Rosenstein

Tailgates are not yet open, but this week we are cooking primarily with ingredients form Jake’s Farm, which is here in Asheville.  The first young and tender things are coming in from the greenhouse/cold frame.  Finally, the end of the winter food doldrums.

In about 2 hours of class time, we will organize and produce the basics preparations for the week’s menu posted below.  The recipes from the class and photographs will be posted next week.

-Mark

SEASONAL MATERIALS

• Toscano Kale
• Pea Shoots
• Arugula
• Leeks, Scallions
• Baby Turnips
• Vietnamese Coriander
• Italian Parsley

KITCHEN ESSENTIALS

• Stocks – chicken stock & dashi
• Hard cheese – Reggiano-Parmigiano
• Flour, yeast
• Salt
• Fats – olive oils

METHODS

• Making dashi (demo) making chicken stock – it’s uses (discussion)
• Braised vegetables
• Oven-dried vegetables
• Intro to bread making

RECIPES

• Reggiano-Parmigiano Custard with Minted Peas Sauce
• Aruguala, Pea Shoot Salad with Meyer Lemon/Olive Oil Dressing
• Simple Baguette
• Braised Leeks with Country Ham

A WEEK’S MENU

• French loaf, olive oil, cheese & arugula salad
• Warm Reggiano-Parmigiano Custard with Pea Shoot Salad, french loaf
• Dashi & Rice Soup with Vietnames Coriander
• Braised Leeks Baked with Country Ham
• Cirspy Kale Salad, Ragout of Roasted Chicken
• Arugula & Chicken Pasta
• Vegetable Ragout of Turnips, Leeks, Scallions, Garlic, & Peas
• Chicken with Mashed Potatoes
• Meyer’s Lemon & Olive Oil Dressing

Saturday’s Kitchen – Work Schedule

• Start Bread
• Braise Vegetables
• Leeks, turnips, scallions, carrots
• Dry Vegetables
• Kale, arugula
• Make Custard
• Demonstrate Stocks – Dashi
• Arugula Pesto
• Braised Leeks Baked with Country Ham

SATURDAY’S KITCHEN. Ubiquitous in the garden, there are more than 150 varieties of the hard skinned winter variety of squashes.  Few make their presence known in the kitchen, which is a shame, as there are few vegetables that when properly cooked blend an inherent creamy texture with an earthy and often sweet flavor.  The color of the flavor reflected in the color of the flesh – deep rust; a rich and lingering earthy taste that haunts the palate, especially when highlighted by a curry spice or one based on clove.  Bright orange – zesty and sweet, when blended with citrus zest and butter makes a wonderful base for simmering mild fleshed birds – turkey, chicken, even game birds.

How to make it.  This preparation is one of my “Paint Pots” – that is, it is something in my basic cooking palette, especially for Fall and early Winter.

Use any combination of the following: acorn squash, butternut squash, kombucha squash or other winter squash.  Include sweet potatoes, carrots, or other orange root vegetables.  Preheat you oven to a moderate temperature, like 300F.  Cut the squashes into quarters, scoop out the seeds.  Peel the sweet potatoes or carrots if you are using them.  Place a piece of foil on a baking sheet and oil it, or use a silicone baking pad.  Put the vegetables on the sheet and place in the oven.  Roast until tender.  Check the vegetables every 30 minutes (set a timer if this helps).  Using a small knife or a fork, pierce the flesh, feeling how easily it yields to moderate pressure.  The softer the flesh, the more it is done.  Each squash or sweet potato cooks differently, as they become soft, remove them from the oven and put them in a bowl. Continue cooking them the remainder until they are all soft.  Allow to cool.

Scoop the flesh off of the skins and put in a bowl.  Lightly season with salt and pepper.  First, mash with a potato masher, then puree in a blender or food processor.  At this point, you can stop and save the puree or proceed in one of the fashions listed below.

• Combine the puree with some chicken or vegetable stock for a soup.

• Make a ravioli – either with fresh pasta or using wanton wrappers.  Variation – add a cheese, such as feta, a blue or other favorite.  As a sauce, consider a melted blue cheese & cream garnished with roasted pumpkin seeds.  Another variation might be olive oil, garlic and blue cheese.

• As a vegetable mousse/timbale – combine with a few eggs, a bit of cream and fill a small mold.  Bake bain marie until set.

• Use it as a base for a vegetable ‘sauce’.  Combine the puree with a little stock, season as desired, swirl in some butter and add roasted vegetable such as cauliflower, leeks, carrots, turnips and serve over grains (risotto, spelt, bulger).

• Make a bread with it.  Use it as a pie filling, by itself or combined with apples.

• Souffle – either savory or sweet.  Fold the puree into a souffle base, season as desired and then fold into whipped egg whites, bake in a buttered souffle mold in a hot oven.

• Use the puree in an ice cream base.  Add sorghum, or ginger or some chili.

Kombucha Squash & Sweet Potato Soup

1 large leek, white part only, sliced and washed
1 Tb butter
1 cup prepared squash & sweet potato puree
3 cups rich chicken stock
salt, fresh ground pepper, to taste
1/2 cup half & half, optional

Method:  In a heavy non-aluminum 2 quart casserole, melt the butter over moderate heat, add the sliced leeks and cook until soft, without the leeks taking on any color.  Add the chicken stock, bring to a simmer and then add the prepared pumpkin.  Return to a simmer, cook for 1/2 hour, season with salt and pepper to taste.  To serve, add the half & half (optional).

Variation 1: May be made with a vegetable stock and substitute vegetable oil for the butter.
Variation 2:  For garnish, crisp some bacon and fry some sage leaves in the rendered bacon fat, use the crisp bacon and the sage leaves for garnish.

Sweet Potato Mousse

12 servings

3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup + 1 Tb. granulated sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 oz. unflavored gelatin (1 envelope)
1 Tb. AP flour
1 1/2 tsp orange zest
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 cup prepared sweet potato
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 cup chilled heavy cream

Method:  In a non-aluminum saucepan, combine egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, milk, gelatin, flour and orange zest.  Mix well with a whisk.  Over moderate heat while stirring constantly, bring the mixture ot a boil.  Remove from the heat and stir in the orange juice, pumpkin and allspice, mix well and then strain through a medium strainer into a large bowl.  Gradually whisk in the heavy cream.  In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with a wire whisk until soft peaks form.  Add the remaining 1 TB of sugar and continue beating until egg whites are stiff.  Stir 1/4 of the beaten whites into the pumpkin mixture, then fold the remaining whites into the mixture.  Mold into indivdual serving molds and refrigerate 4 hours, until set.

Sweet Potato Ravioli With Sage Cream and Brown Butter

6 sheets of rolled pasta2 eggs + 1 tsp water, mixed well together, lightly beaten
1 1/2 # pumpkin/sweet potato puree
4 oz. unsalted butter, very soft
2 tsp. Quatres-Epices (see recipe below)
salt, fresh ground pepper

Sage cream
1/3 cup sage leaves (saving small leaves for fried sage leaf garnish)
1 cup crème fraiche
1 cup Beurre Monté
Oil for frying
Salt and fresh pepper
2 Tb. unsalted butter
48 leaves for garnish (part of the 1/3 cup)
4 thin slice ham, cut into julienne (optional)

Method: Make your pumpkin and sweet potato puree according to previous instructions.  Mix the puree with the soft butter, season with the quarters-epices, salt and pepper.  Cool and refrigerate.

To fill the ravioli:  Lay one sheet of rolled pasta out on a flat surface.  Brush the entire surface with the egg and water wash. Using two teaspoons (or a pastry bag fitted with a plain tube), make two rows of filling.  Take a teaspoon full amount of puree and using the second teaspoon, dropit off onto the pasta.  Make a second mound, leaving one inch in between the mounds.  Proceed to make a full row and then a second.  Carefully place a second sheet of pasta on top.  Using your fingers, press down between the mounds of filling, making sure that the filling is completely sealed in.  Then cut the pasta into squares.  Set aside and proceed to use the remaining pasta sheets and filling.

For the sage cream, blanch the sage leaves not reserved for garnish in boiling water for 2 minutes.  Drain, cool in cold water.  Squeeze dry.
Heat the crème fraiche, beurre monté and salt over low heat until hot, do not boil.  Place the sage in a blender, chop.  With motor running, add the hot cream and blend.  Strain into a large skillet, keep warm on low heat.
Deep fry the leaves for garnish.
Cook the ravioli in a large pot of salted, boiling water.  Cook for 4 –5 minutes, until the pasta is cooked.  Drain.  While the ravioli are cooking, make some brown butter.
To serve, toss the ravioli in the warm sage cream, put on a heated serving dish, drizzle the brown butter over the top, garnish with the fried sage leaves and the country ham.

Sweet Potato & Pumpkin Sorghum Ice Cream

8 servings

3 egg yolks
1 cup sorghum syrup
1 cup milk, scalded
1 cup prepared sweet potato & pumpkin
1 1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1 cup heavy cream
either dark rum or bourbon and some walnuts for garnish

Method:  In a large bowl, blend the egg yolks and sorghum, stir well.  Gradually beat the hot milk into the egg mixture.  Pour into a non-aluminum saucepan and cook over moderate heat until a good custard forms (180 F on a candy thermometer).  Return to a bowl, mix in the pumpkin, nutmeg and heavy cream.  Allow to cool, then pour into your ice cream freezer and freeze.  Allow the ice cream to “ripen” in a freeze for 2 hours before serving.  Serve with a dash of rum or bourbon and some chopped walunuts.

Pumpkin Crème Brulée

8 servings

Brulée sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar

In a 250 F oven, mix sugars together, then spread out in an even layer on a sheet pan.  Dry in the oven for 1 hour.  In blender process to a fine powder.  Set aside and covered, will keep about a week.

Custards
2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
10 Tb. sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. ground clove
1/4 tsp. grated nutmeg
9 large egg yolks
3/4 cup unseasoned pumpkin puree

Preheat oven 350 F.  In saucepan, combine milk, cream, sugar and spices.  Over medium heat, bring to a simmer, remove from heat, allow to infuse 30 minutes.  Whisk in the pumpkin, then the egg yolks, pass through a sieve into a bowl.  Fill 8 – 4 oz.  Set the ramekins in a bain marie with hot water.  Bake in oven for 25 – 30 minutes, until the custards are set. Remove and cool.  Refrigerate at least 8 hours before serving.

To serve: spread the sugar in a thin layer and caramelize under a hot broiler or with a ‘salamander’.

Variations: acorn, butternut squash or sweet potatoes.

Mark Rosenstein

• Sweet Potatoes – Sweet Potato ‘Fries’, Sweet Potato Pumpkin Carrot Ginger Soup, Sweet Potato & Cider Gratin
• Windy Ridge Yukon Gold & Purple Fingerling Potatoes - Potato Fennel & Purple Onion Salad
• Cippolini Onions – Pureé of Onions & Rice with Roast Chicken
• Kabocha Squash – Mashed ‘Japanese Pumpkin’ & Potatoes
• Belgium Endive – Braised Endive with Benton’s Country Ham Parmesan Coriander Cardamom & Clove Orange Pepper
• Celery Root – Celery Root Parsnip & Potato Puree
• Savoy Cabbage – Quick Cooked Sliced Cabbage with Smoked Bacon
• Meyer’s Lemon - Lemon Curd Yogurt with Lancinato Kale
• Red & White Cabbage – Warm Cabbage Salad with Hazelnuts
• Beets – Roasted Beet Salad with Oranges Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar
• Bonus – Black Mountain ‘Le Red’ Chocolate Mousse

I made a quick trip to the store yesterday and this is what I found there.  All winter things – as it should be.  This is where my week’s menu begins – by finding out what is best and what is available.  I avoid ‘out-of-season’ foods, like berries or summer zuchinni and definitely no tomatoes.  Then I think about the coming week, our work schedule and who is coming for dinner – this will influence how much I have to purchase.  Of course, I always plan one really special dish – in this case I cannot wait to cook the Belgium endive with Benton’s Country Ham – a crips glass of white wine.

Will tell you about how to get in all done in the next chapter of Saturday’s Kitchen…

This challenge is not new.  In the 20th Century literature there are at least 3 major author/cooks that address the issue of cooking/table/time.  M.F.K. Fisher wrote a book during World War II, How to Cook a Wolf – “in the earnest hope that you are being a good provider, try this simple plan: Balance the day, not each meal in the day.”  Dinner Against the Clock by Madeleine Kamman is a collection of “quick, sumptuous meals with the look and taste of infinite leisure”.    Finally, back in 1930, Edouard de Pomaine published French Cooking in Ten Minutes (Adapting to the Rhythm of Modern Life), a delightful guide that was also a weekly radio broadcast.  Gourmet magazine was also in this mix, publishing a monthly column Gastronomy Sans Argent that featured great recipes that cost little.

As a believer and practitioner of The Table, these four pieces have been stuck in the back of my head for sometime.  I always imagined that at some point, I would attempt to bring the concept of “cooking with little time” forward to this century.  (I admit, not a modest claim).  Standing on the shoulders of these culinary giants (Madeleine Kamman was one of my mentors), afforded the ease of a digital global network, I will rush forward with an uncertain plan into Saturday’s Kitchen.  It is a year’s journey, at least.

Saturday has always been a special kitchen day – tracing my love of Saturday back to my childhood.  Growing up, no one was home Saturday morning, except my sister and myself.  Often, my sister would be somewhere else.  It was the day I would ‘sneak’ into the kitchen, slice a potato and in an iron skillet fry those potatoes, making my own chips.  I would carefully strain and replace the cooking oil in it’s jar, so no one would know I had been cooking.

As a chef, Saturday morning was filled with anticipation as well as tranquility.  Arriving early, loading my work table up with a day’s production, I was able to sink into the meditation of cooking – at least until one o’clock, when staff would begin to appear.   The kitchen was quiet, I was surrounded by things I could slice, chop, fry, blanch, roast, shred, mold, bake, braise or dice.  Hands at work, mind in contemplation, music.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Starting my culinary life I learned to rise early and visit farm, garden or wood, being the source of all things food.  This habit of a lifetime has not diminished, where now in season, my Saturday morning trips to the tailgate market are the basis of a week’s meal plan as well as a highlight of my social life.

For the past few years, as I stepped away from restaurant production, this delightful habit of a morning in the kitchen made it’s way home.  In Saturday’s Kitchen I will share lessons of how to spend less time in the kitchen, so that you can spend more time around The Table.  As all cooking begins in the garden, Lesson #1 is either plant and plan your garden or sign up for a local CSA plan – a community supported agriculture plan.  We  have, and it will be a part of future lessons.  See Hanna Rachel Raskin’s piece in the Mountain Express.  March 1 is the deadline for signing up.

Another way to think about this is “Dancin’ in the Kitchen”.