Cookin' in the 'Cuse

The Craftsman House--The Restaurant

Tonight, three colleagues and I had dinner at the Craftsman House Restaurant in Fayetteville.  I had checked out their menu on their website months ago but frankly, wasn't that excited about going.  As it turns out, with one exception, I was really delightlfully pleased with the food. 

Upon entering the Craftsman House we were greeted by wonderful Stickley furnishings--a great homage to the famous Arts and Crafts designers and Central New York natives.  Unfortunately, we were seated in the booths where we lost any sense of the craftsman design aesthetic--we could have been anywhere.  Those who sat at the tables had the experience of sitting in Stickley chairs.  But the overall atmosphere was pleasant and the service was nicely attentive. 

We started our meal with salads (which came with the entree selection) and an appetizer--which I ordered in lieu of a salad.  My dining companions found the salads to be okay--nothing really stand out--but good.  I opted for the Crispy Thai Shrimp which were wrapped in rice paper and done to perfection.  They were accompanied by a chili ginger dipping sauce--and underneath, a touch of pickled seaweed with sesame seeds, a surprise that made me very happy.

                

The main courses also did not disappoint.  Two of us had the pecan-crusted Atlantic salmon--and it was great.  Salmon (farmed) was flaky and flavorful.  Tucked under the salmon were the most delicious chive mashed potatoes--they were just slightly green in color and exploding with flavor.  These were mashed potatoes I could really get excited about!  There were a good amount of green beans on the side--as well as a few leaves of swiss chard.  The menu mentioned a fennel pumpkinseed broth but I really couldn't detect it.  I actually didn't miss it.

Other entrees at the table included the pan seared Maine scallops with lemon shitake mushroom risotto, sauteed asparagus, and a grilled tomato thyme emulsion--it received raves.  There was also a pistachio-crusted chicken breast with sugar snap peas, mushrooms, fingerling potatoes and a miso roasted garlic glaze--my colleague ate it with gusto.

       (apologies for the blurred photos)

After all that we did manage to save room for dessert.  I'd say that for the most part the desserts were just okay.  I was actually a little disappointed in my warm chocolate cake with hazelnut ganache and vanilla bean ice cream and chocolate sauce.  The dish was supposed to come with a marshmellow ice cream but I made a substitution.  The main problem I had was that the cake was really just a standard molten chocolate cake with bits of chopped hazelnuts inside.  From the description--hazelnut ganache, I was expecting that it might be covered in ganache, instead of finding what was really a chocolate truffle (with no real hazelnut flavor to my tastebuds) inside.  Now, one of my colleagues had the same dish (with marshmellow ice cream) and said he really tasted a hazelnut filling, so we are divided on this.

The dessert I should have had was the creme brulee.  Now I should mention that the man who ordered it is something of a creme brulee conossiour.  In fact, I hope to ask him to do a review of the creme brulees to be found in Central New York--he really knows his stuff.  Well, he loved this one.  And it was accompanied by the biggest madeleine I'd ever seen--and it was covered in chocolate! 

I'll have to ask about how much they source local or organic ingredients, but overall, I'd definitely go back--especially to indulge in the creme brulee. 

I really read it just for the articles ;)

I've longed turned to Gourmet magazine for inspiration in the kitchen.  The photos, essays on dining around the world, and the accompanying recipes have lured me to spice shops and untold hours at the stove. 

Recently, however, I've been purchasing the magazine for the articles.  Last month it was a must-read story about the way Wal-Mart is changing what we find on supermarket shelves.  This month (July) their annual produce issue focuses on eating locally--how could I resist?  And lucky for those of us in the northeast, there is news we can use. 

The first story I'd recommend is an essay by Bill McKibben titled, "A Grand Experiment", which chronicles his attempt to eat locally.  In Vermont.  In winter.  He offers a dose of inspiration for those of us who will be participating in the August challenge to eat within our foodshed.

The second article is "New York State of Mind" which describes the farm to table food scene right here in the Finger Lakes and Central New York.  The piece describes some old favorites like Doug's Fish Fry as well relative newcomers like the Restaurant at Elderberry Pond in Auburn and Suzanne Fine Regional Cuisine in Lodi.  These good eats are, in many cases, less than an hour away from Syracuse.  I can't wait to check some of these places out.  Pick up a copy if you can and get out to the country and enjoy the culinary bounty in our midst.

What I Couldn't Do Without--Utensibility!

Ah, now I feel like a food blogger--I'm participating in a meme hosted by Sam of Becks and Posh called Utensibility.  She gets to go shopping and I get to wax on about the cooking gadgets I think no kitchen should be without.

When I was a young cook of nine years old I would diligently follow the recipes in my Grandfather's 1932 edition of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook.  So, if the brownie recipe called for stirring the batter for 50 strokes by hand--that is exactly what I did.  The same was true for making scones and biscuits--I always cut the butter with a pastry cutter.  You might say I was a young Luddite--but I liked to think of myself as a purist.  I think I feared that machines would disconnect me from being able to "feel" the food--cooking would devolve into a less intimate sensory experience.  I eshewed the electric mixers, blenders, and other handy motorized gadgets. 

That is, until I was given the gift of a Kitchen Aid mixer.  I love my mixer, but the piece of cooking equipment I think is really indepensable is my Kitchen Aid food processor.  I soon discovered that I was able to get in touch with the sensory experience of food a lot quicker--and that I still had to rely on how the food felt and looked at each step of the way to guide my cooking.

I loved this food processor from the very beginning because of the ease and speed with which I could slice onions and chop peppers and other vegetables.  Chopping nuts, making bread crumbs, pestos, and purees--piece of cake. 

But baker that I am, my whole world changed when I discovered that I could use it for making scones, biscuits, and pastry dough.  Out went the pastry cutter!  Making pie crusts takes just minutes.  I could make a whole savory tart with this food processor in no time. 

I've had this machine for six years and it has worked perfectly every time .  I use it nearly every day.  I was very happy to recieve this Kitchen Aid food processor as a gift because it is a bit of an investment.  Finding one is easy--all the major department stores carry it as well as Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table.  In fact, the Williams Sonoma website has the 12-Cup version on special for $229.95.  And it is the newer design to boot.   

On the other side of the spectrum is small utensil that I find myself using more and more all the time.  It is a pasta claw.  I've discovered that pasta is just the beginning of its utility.  Of course, it works great for stirring pasta and lifting fettucine out of the pot but it is also perfect for lifting eggs out of boiling water (both hard boiled and poached).  And since I eat eggs a few times a week I find I'm always reaching for it.  Finally, because of the large hole in the center, it works a lot like a super slotted spoon--whenever I want to lift larger pieces of meat or vegetables out of a sauce (quickly) this is the tool I reach for.  Pasta claws can be found in all the cooking departments and specialty stores for about $10.00. 

The Kitchen Aid food processor and the pasta claw are really aids in the kitchen.  Unlike a bread machine (which I cannot find it in my heart to use) these gadgets still keep me in touch with the cooking process.  They won't do all the work for me--just enough to keep things fun.

Catching up

I've just returned from a few days in Chicago and have been offline since Wednesday--seems like a long time.  But yesterday I managed to get in a full afternoon at the Taste of Chicago--a week long extravaganza that showcases food in art, literature, theatre, and hundreds of booths offering samples of everything from the classic Chicago beef hotdog to pierogies.  I actually took dozens of photos with my camera phone but haven't figured out how to download them to the computer yet.  I hope to have more to show and tell in a few days. 

Meanwhile, I continue to be amazed at how much faster the garden seems to grow when I go out of town.  I harvested some garlic bulbs to cure over the next couple of weeks and noticed that the broccoli is heading up nicely.  The tomatoes are just beginning to appear and I may be picking the Romaine lettuce to take to the co-op this week--it looks just big enough to sell.  You can check out a few photos below and see more in the Dorset Harvest Farm--June photo album on the right.

Now I'm off to decifer my camera phone.

 

I guess I was really hungry...

I am finding that this interest/avocation/obsession with food blogging has changed the way I see the world--or at least the way I want to see the world.  I gave my husband a digital camera a couple of years ago but in the last two months I seemed to have taken it over.  I carry it everywhere in my efforts to capture images that express and/or inspire my thoughts about food. 

Carrying a camera around to take photos of food has added to my enjoyment of it.  I've always taken an aesthetic pleasure in the way food looks but now, more often than not, I pause to consider the beauty of the image before me and how I might preserve it.  But not today.

Over the weekend I dusted off my bikes and have decided to try to bike as many places as possible for the sake of my health, the environment and for fun.  Well, after biking around University Hill (and yes, there are many steep hills here--think Oakland and parts of San Francisco) I made it home for lunch famished.  So famished that it wasn't until after I devoured my lunch that I thought, that was really good.  I should have snapped a photo.

So I'll just tell you about it:  thinly sliced Serrano Ham (a dry cured ham from Spain) with fresh mozzarella cheese and sun-dried tomato pesto on some sligtly toasted Heidelberg French Peasant bread.  It was delicious!  And, I'm happy to report, much of it was local.  The mozzarella came from Antonio's here in Syracuse and the bread is baked in Upstate New York.  The ham... well, no getting around it, was imported. 

The sun-dried tomato pesto is really easy to make.  Take a half cup of olive oil packed sun-dried tomatoes (drained but reserve the oil) and two cloves of garlic and pulse in a food processor.  With the processor running, add 1 tablespoon of reserved oil from the tomatoes, 1 tablespoon of balsalmic vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste (though I never need to add any.)  It will last in the fridge about a week--that is, if you can keep yourself from eating it straight from the jar.

Shameless Plug

It is partly because of the length of Central New York winters that there are so many outdoor food events in Syracuse.  Once the snow melts, you'll find that there is something happening outdoors nearly every weekend in this city and there is always food involved.  Spring and summer are also prime seasons for various church barbeques.  Church parking lots, gardens, and courtyards are transformed into huge outdoor restaurants where you can pick up food to go or enjoy your eats on site.  Plus, it can be a great way to support local food producers and local concerns.

So here's my shameless plug.  My own church, Grace Episcopal, where I serve as priest and pastor, is having its big BBQ this weekend.  Grace is a very cool place--so cool that I willingly left the San Francisco Bay Area to be here.  It is full of folks who really "get it" concerning issues of food safety, eating locally, organically, and sustainably, striving for peace and seeking justice for all people--particularly the poor and disenfranchised. 

A couple of months ago they decided to spend the next year focusing on issues of food and health.  Many folks at Grace have organic vegetable gardens, support CSAs and we'll even have an Urban Delights farmstand for eight weeks beginning in July to coincide with the time our food pantry is open.  Nutrition and cooking classes, hunger and povery reduction, and sustainable agriculture advocacy are all in the works. 

So if you find yourself near Syracuse University this weekend, come by and get a delicious chicken or rib dinner.  Your meal will help feed others in our community.  Grace Episcopal Church is located at the corner of University and Madison--just three blocks from Syracuse University.

Fresh and Healthy Food for Everyone

Two of the things that continues to bother me about the new culture of food and eating are the underlying and interlocking issues of class and affordability.  Most of us in America are in the enviable position of being able to choose what we eat.  But after that basic choice I find that the education, access, and desire for healthy, fresh, organic and sustainable foods breaks down too quickly around class and economic lines. 

We know that too often organic foods are more expensive than conventional ones.  One of the reasons I began growing our own food was to save some money.  And, some of the most delicious dining experiences are found in higher-priced eateries.  Processed foods and fast food are always less expensive--it is almost as if we have to pay double for the privilege of eating the nutrients that were in the food to begin with.  It kills me that some refer to Whole Foods Market as "Whole Paycheck".  And as much as I"d like one here in Syracuse, I'll admit that whenever I've lived near a Whole Foods, I could never afford to shop there exclusively.

I've noted before that one of the problems is that the price of conventional food is priced artifically low--and we Americans have grown accustomed to not spending a large percentage of our paycheck on food (foodies excepted).  But a food system that is sustainable in the truest sense of that word must be sustainable (meaning possible) for everyone. 

Food is so basic we cannot allow it to be a luxury.  Black Truffles are a luxury, no-spray vegetables and hormone-free chicken should not be.  Good, organic produce should be within everyone's reach.  Learning, and perhaps relearning, how to cook again and claiming the importance of sharing meals with families and friends should be within everyone's reach.  I applaud the work that People's Grocery is doing to bring fresh produce and healthy food to West Oakland (a neighborhood where there are no supermarkets so food is purchased from the liqour store.) 

Right here in Syracuse the Urban Delights program brings a fresh produce stand to similiar neighborhoods through its Youth Farmstead Program.  Some of the food is even grown by the youth who sell it.  It would be wonderful to see this program grow.  Until everyone at every economic level has access to fresh, local, and sustainable food sources those who can afford it will unwittingly be supporting a system that is unfair.  We can do better.

Eating Within our Foodshed

It seems that everywhere I go lately folks are talking about the need to support the local economy.  I suppose it may be part of the reaction against the effects of outsourcing and globalization that seem to play out at every level of our lives.  I was overjoyed when a conversation I had with a group of entrepreneurial GenXers turned to the idea of opening up a shop in downtown Syracuse that featured only local and regional products--wouldn't that be grand?

In the meantime, a challenge is going up in August that invites people to, as much as possible, eat within their foodshed.  That is, consume foods produced within 100 miles of where you live.  I plan to draw a circle around the 100 mile radius surrounding Syracuse to see if I can eat only what is grown in that area.  While some things will be difficult--any rice growers in Central New York?--others will be quite easy.  Chicken, beef, pork, fish, eggs, milk, cheese, bread, produce, fruit--such as these strawberries grown right here in Baldwinsville--, granola, ice cream, and many other favorite foodstuffs are grown right here in Central New York.

Many of us (including me until about a year ago) bought into the myth that food had to be imported from places like California or Europe to really taste good.  In reality, our taste buds have been conditioned to the flavor of foreign soils.  The idea of terroir--the particularity of a place (geology, geography, climate) and its effect on the taste of food-- was not something people outside of the world of wine spoke about often.  The berries grown here outside of Syracuse were delicious.  But they looked and tasted different from those imported from Watsonville, CA.  When friends tasted these at dinner last weekend some were astounded.  And none of us could really believe that such good berries could be grown here.  But before the development of the federal highway system, that is exactly how people in the northeast enjoyed strawberries--they grew them.

Eating within our foodshed can open us to a world of tastes right in our backyard.  We may even rediscover that it is possible for us to feed ourselves again.

Note:  These berries can be found at the Syracuse Real Food Co-op, the Hamilton Farmers' Market, and through a subscription to the Green Rabbit Farm CSA.

Lobby to Regulate GE Foods

In a post last week I mentioned the issue of genetically engineered food.  It is a topic that is generating much controversy these days--and for good reason.  Proponents of genetically engineered (GE) foods, aka genetically modified organisms (GMO) say that by changing the genetic structure of many foods we have the ability to make vegetables resistent to herbicides--such as Round Up.  GE foods can also allow crops such as potatoes to grow dependably even in weakened soil structures--thus guaranteeing the world of millions of fast food french fries.  And many see GE foods as having the potential to solve the problems of hunger and starvation across the globe because food can be engineered to be produced in places that it would not have grown under natural circumstances.

On the other hand, the jury is still out on whether eating GE foods is healthy and safe for the human body.  Very little testing has been done.  For those who are trying to eat organically and sustainably, GE foods present a large problem.  In addition to the health issues, GE food production doesn't rely as heavily on healthy soil so it becomes that much easier to continue to ravage the environment.  GE seeds and pollen are easily spread to other crops thus contaminating fields where GE foods were not desired.  Monsanto, a large producer of GE foods has even sued farmers who were unintentionally growing their patented GE vegetables when the seeds blew onto their fields.  For this reason places like Mendocino County in California have legislated themselves as GE-free.  Additionally, many are concerned that as we become more dependent on the reliability of GE foods we will continue to see a decrease in the variety of foods that are grown. 

Currently there is a campaign to demand that foods that are genetically engineered be labeled as such.  Given the prevalence of GE foods labeling would be a great help to those who are trying to avoid them. 

This Wednesday, June 15, is lobby day to Regulate GMOs at the New York State Capitol in Albany.  Co-ops, organic advocates, and other concerned groups of citizens will gather for a day of lobbying and education in an effort to get New York State to require labeleing of GE/GMO foods.  The films, The Future of Food and Hidden Dangers in Kids' Meals will be shown and books and other materials about GMOs will be on display.  Folks will gather at the Legislative Office Building at 10:30 a.m.  If you have the day to spare or even half a day, please come out to Albany.

Until labeling becomes a legal requirement we will have to do the next best thing:  ask questions about where your food is coming from and how it is grown; and as much as possible, by it from local, organic or no-spray farmers who hold the preservation of a safe food supply and human and environmental health as core conerns.

First Grill of the Year

Yesterday the temperature in Syracuse was hovering in the high 90s.  There was no way we were going to use the stove.  So we did what everyone else did on Memorial Day weekend (when we were having quiche) and grilled.  This may not be a big deal to some but it was a bit of an epiphany for me.  Grilling food tastes great!  I don't know why we don't do it more often.  Perhaps that will be our summer project--to grill more often.

Last night we kept it simple and grilled burgers (I've just begun eating red meat this year for the first time in over a decade--well, I always ate bacon...).  I managed to find some hormone and antibiotic free ground beef from Wegmans.  Let me tell you they were delicious!  The real beauty of this burger is what you can't see.  Before grilling I stuffed the inside of the patty with a thin slice of brie and a teaspoon of red onion confit.  So as the burger cooked the cheese melted and the sweetness of the onion confit played off the tangy taste of the grilled burger--YUM. 

Now I'll confess that I didn't actually make the onion confit myself.  I picked up a jar at the fabulous Oakville Grocery while I was in Napa last month.  This one was made by the Girl and the Fig--a great restaurant in Sonoma wine country.  Onion confit is easy to make and this recipe from Bon Apetite magazine should make for good results.

Red Onion Confit
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large red onions, halved, sliced
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoons chicken broth
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 3/4 teaspoon dried, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon sugar

To make the confit:
Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and sauté until crisp-tender, about 8 minutes. Add all remaining ingredients and stir until reduced to thick glaze, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover and chill.) Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 8.