The Season Comes to an End...

Say farewell to Flavor of the Week...for now! Temperatures have started to drop in New York City and the growing season has tapered off. No one is as excited as me for the winter- that means snow and snow means skiing and the only thing I love even close to as much as I love cooking is skiing. But it's bittersweet since the snow also means I have to say goodbye to the farm for a few months. I encourage everyone in the CSA to visit the farmers market in the winter and utilize what NY farmers have to offer during the cold months and I'll still be cooking so if you stumble across something you're not sure how to cook with, shoot me an email and I'll come up with something for the both of u

Anyway- for the final week, the farm has tomatillos and we are making a spicy tomatillo and tortilla soup. Adjust the amount of chipotle chiles in the recipe to hit the heat factor you're looking for. 1 Chipotle chile is pretty tame... and 2 is more up my alley- it bites back just a little. Pick your demon and have fun with the last Flavor of the Week!

Turnip Greens

In Italian cooking- everything is used. Not just the turnips but the turnip greens will be savored. And it's pretty common to see any edible green leafy weed, overgrowth, or top of a veggie in simply sauteed off thrown into a delicious pasta. I followed in the footsteps of the Italians here and took the farms pretty turnip greens and made a tagliatelle pasta. It's incredibly simple, but maybe the best recipe yet.

As the growing season slows to a halt at the farm, Flavor of the Week has been given just one more ingredient- Tomatillos. I've had two ideas and am battling with either Tomatillo Tortilla Soup or Green Tomato Chutney paired with a spicy Indian dish- but I'm polling the people! If you'd rather see one or the other, shoot me an email and let me know which one tickles your fancy more and that will determine the final edition!

Full Circle

Last night my sous chef Ben and I worked at Little Owl in the West Village with Marc Vetri for his new book's release dinner. The book, Rustic Italian food, is scheduled to release November 1st but you can pre-order it online here. <--click.

The menu was an array of items from the book- from his dad's very own meatball recipe to durum focaccia and roasted lamb shoulder. Marc didn't bring anyone from his restaurants back in Philadelphia, so it was just us three, putting out a ridiculously pretty 6 course dinner for 25. It was amazing working side by side with a Chef that I've considered a role model for years, and strangely enough on his second book release- his first book still hasn't left my back pack since I bought it, I guess I'll have to make room for the new one.

When we arrived, Marc was hanging out on the couch and informed us not much had to be prepped, we just had to tie up a few loose ends. A lot of the prep was already done. The only big project left to do was make the pasta- beet plin, and we could all do this together. We looked around for a big open space for us to be able to roll out pasta and shape the plin and cleared off the butchers block table. Pause- Was this

really happening? Was I really looking for an outlet to plug in the Kitchen-aid to make pasta with Marc Vetri right now?...

At The Little Nell in Aspen, we used to hand make all of our pastas- each one almost every day. I started my kitchen career in the banquet kitchen, peeling cases of potatoes, molding ground beef into hundreds of mini sliders, and skewering billions of elk kabobs. It wasn't all that bad though because the pasta machine was in the banquet kitchen and that meant I got to watch the pasta cooks arrive hours earlier than their schedule actually printed and work beautiful mounds of neon orange dough through the pasta machine. I watched as they draped long sheets of pasta back and forth across their wingspan. I'd hover over their shoulder as they piped braised rabbit and mascarpone quickly across the transparent sheets and make perfect folds, followed by perfect pinches, followed by perfect cuts resulting in the prettiest agnolottis I'd ever seen. I knew I couldn't have that job- not yet.

But I could pretend it was my job at home if I learned a little about pasta. My sous chef suggested I read Il Viaggio di Vetri by Marc Vetri- a book I bought two and a half years ago and haven't gone more than a week without referencing since. I trusted Marc's writing on pasta like there was no other way to do it, and still do. His dough recipe was my recipe, still is. I'd make one or two of his actual pasta recipes, but then after awhile, I'd come up with my own ideas. When I thought about..."How would I make this flavor into a sauce, or at what stage should I add this in?" I'd immediately flip open the Vetri book and start reading one of his procedures. I eventually got my hands on a decent amount of pasta at The Little Nell. I never got to work the station but I'd buddied up with the pasta cooks and come in to help them plow through the workload for the day. We rolled spaghetti, ravioli, agnolotti, and extruded rigatoni. At home, I'd use my hand crank pasta machine to replicate smaller batches of what I'd learned that week at work. I'd run over to the pasta station and help plate when they were busy, and in the slow times, I'd ask to be taught how to pick up the sauces...and I'd absorb everything they'd say. At some point in my year at The Nell, I'd moved to the main kitchen, put on bar station, then garde manger before eventually leaving to go to culinary school- where Marc Vetri himself graduated from the bread making program.

When I moved to NY, I was closer to the restaurant Vetri where I knew they were in the kitchen still making perfect pastas every single day. Philly was super close now, I needed to actually try some of the pasta I'd been trying to replicate- but work and school swallowed all of my time. During level 3 in school, as a group we were responsible for making an amouse-bouche each day, and anythime it was up to me to formulate an idea I'd make pasta. We made spaghetti carbonara- delivered in individual bites, pre-twirled on the fork. I made gnocchi the first time we were asked to prepare our exit-dish for level 2. I've clearly been a little pasta obsessed.

So when I staged at Marea and tasted their pastas, hand rolled downstairs every day by an amazing pasta crew that Chef White has had with him for a very long time, I found where I wanted to be. I started on "oyster station." That's not even a real station. It honestly doesn't exist anymore. It was a creative way for luring a culinary student into cutting lemons, making mignotte everyday and stabbing themselves with a dull oyster knife hundreds of times a week. But I didn't care- I had my eye on the prize...I was going to be on pasta, and the oyster station has a great view of the chaos that is the pasta line every night. When school ended, I moved to garde manager where I inherited a sous chef named Ben- the same Ben that worked with me last night, and the same Ben that used to work for Marc Vetri in Philly. You see where this is going.

Ben and I chatted about Philly, the restaurant, and how I'd never even been there but somehow known all of Marc's pastas. So when Ben showed me a text from Marc that said he had a spot for me at 10:30 on Friday night- I rented a car. Adios NY, I was Philly bound. I packed a dress, pearls, and heels and I was off. I finally arrived, thirty minutes late for my reservation...after calling 3 times to profusely apologize for the traffic. I put on my tiny dress in the car and ran inside. My boyfriend at the time was still parking the car when Marc came out to my table to say hi. I'm pretty sure I told him how excited I was at least 400 times...and apologized for being late equal amounts. He was extremely kind- and said even though it's late, we'd like to pull your menu and cook for you. Like I'm goon refuse that, Chef? We ate for HOURS. I smiled for HOURS. It was everything I wanted and thought it would be. Everything was so damn perfect...I ate the spinach gnocchi I'd read about in the book...and it was the best spinach gnocchi anyone has ever eaten and anyone has ever made. I'm not willing to entrain any arguments about that- it was the best.

When dinner was over, we toured the charcuterie room downstairs and gawked at the hanging pig legs and came back up for the onslaught of desserts. I drove home the next day thinking about pasta...as usual. I still wanted that to be on that station.

When the risotto person admitted to me she was leaving the restaurant- I went straight to my sous chef and asked him to put me there. So then I was there...right next to pasta where I could watch all the sauces being made right next to me while I formed tendonitis stirring risotto five days a week.

This week- I trained on pasta. And next week- I start on pasta. And last night- I hung out with a pasta god. Not only did I hang out with him- we made plin together...he told me pasta secrets.

He even wrote one down for me. We compared stories about the line...about how to picked up 350 pastas a night where I work and how to pick up 60 pastas at his restaurant. He said that sizzling noise I'm talking about...the one that comes from blaring the flame under your pan so you can pick up a 3 minutes pasta sauce in 30 seconds... is forbidden. If he hears it- he said he turns to see what's gone wrong- Starting pasta sauce in a cold pan is the only way to do it. I agree but I also tell him I've succumbed to the realities of volume and my pans are always hot. I really liked chatting with someone that did it right- he never cut a corner- not just on the pastas, but in all of his food. Nothing was changed to outfit the amount of people eating at the restaurant, and it's not like he was ever put in the position to- the restaurant is small enough that it really just felt like eating at home.I'm not sure how to really emphasize this as much as I mean to, but I admire Marc Vetri so much and my respect for him as a chef, a cook, and an owner of a restaurant is immeasurable. When it's all said and done, I want someone to be able to say the same about me.

It's really weird how everything comes full circle right when it should. Last night was so cool and im so pumped about starting pasta station next week. What have I really learned between the time I first picked up the Vetri book and when I stood with him last night rolling pasta through the kitchen-aid? Alright...a little bit corny, but you know I always am- Everything you want to see or do or be in life can be yours- as long as you have patience, persistence, and a little bit, or a lot, of drive- it will be. It's all just a matter of how bad you want something.

Last night- in photos.

The plin.

Ben was coaching me through the whole pasta process: "This beet filling used to be my nemesis..."

"If you move from the top to the bottom, you wont get beet all over your sleeve..."

"If you move fast enough, these wont stick to the butcher's block, do one row after the other."

"Shannon...what'd I say about too much water...and you've gotta move faster."

"If you mess them up, just poke them in the middle, and then you can go back and eat them."

"Look at me...I'm Ben...mine are perfect." Ha, Ben actually admitted to me the pounds and pounds of plin he would end up eating while making the pasta, and told me about the time his station partner was blending the beet filling- and it blew up...making him, his chef coat, and the entire room pink.

Sal's Old School Meatballs

Tuna- Ricotta Fritters

Durum Foccacia

Marc- "You're going to keep looking at me and thinking, these are burnt, but keep caramelizing them...they aren't done yet." Caramelizing Cippolini onions with sage for the Rigatoni with-

Chicken livers!

Chef explaining how the eye sees when the pasta is done, there's no need to taste it... or as the boys said it last night "Se veer cuando la pasta e cotto."

Tarrgon, butter, pasta water...nothing else. That's the sauce. Chef Marc- "Let it cook....Stop shaking it, let it cook!"

The Plin in action.

Roasted Lamb shoulder and fennel gratin.

Congratulatory drinks and olive oil cakes.

Ey!

And I'm really starting to think I need to change the subtitle of my blog...I'm not really much of an outsider to the kitchen anymore- it feels like home : )

Guest Writer...Straight from France

Okay, not straight from France...But close enough. My friend Elise went to Cannes for six months to see what working in a real French kitchen was all about and recently arrived back in the states with a few recipes to share and not more than a handful of French words. I asked her to write a guest recipe for Brooklyn Grange's salad greens and she made an awesome salad inspired by her time in Provence.

This week- which I surely write about next- I had to bail on writing a recipe because I was busy being the right hand man for Marc Vetri at his new book release dinner. It was like Make-a-Wish Foundation granted my exact request...we spent the day making pasta and eating falafel. Yep...pretty sure thats my ultimate dream. Sorry I skipped one- but Elise has a gnack for making the simplest ingredients, like salad greens, come alive- Thanks Elise!!

PS- Check out Elise's blog at www.saltpepperlove.com.

The Real Thing

Farro and Spinach Salad with Pickled Red Onions, and Oranges

The spinach everyone got in their CSA this week is beautiful. There's no other way to describe it. It's nothing at all like the spinach you buy in stores- that weird, identically-shaped, tasteless stuff. This is hearty, deep....it has a bite to it, it actually tastes like something. You might want to just keep it raw and make a quick salad out of it- cherish the stuff because you can't buy this flavor!

Green Tomatoes

Green tomatoes don't have a lot of flavor if you bite into one raw. It's kind of like eating a peach before it's ripe...it's hard, it lacks flavor, its a little bitter and disappointing. Once you cook them, they have a sweet flavor and if "gardeny" was an adjective..that's how I'd describe it. It's fresh and tastes like how walking through a row of tomato plants smells.

Here, I've made Charred Green Tomato Salsa to throw on top of some delicious Tequila Braised Pulled Pork Tacos. Be careful...It's a little spicy- cut down the chipotles in the braise if you want to temper the heat. Make sure you have a margarita or a mojito nearby when you take the first bite.

Rub your pork...

Bring in the tequila...

Get your 6 hr braise started...

Char the matoes!

Make the salsa, grab a drink, and assemble a taco!

SOOOOO GOOD!

Banh Xeo

I wish a camera followed me around for the creation of this week's recipe- it was very comedic gathering ingredients all over the city for Banh Xeo.

I had no idea the crepes were made with soaked and ground mung beans...I didn't even know what mung beans were but I figured I'd be able to find them in NYC. During my research into these Vietnamese crepes, I also read that some vietnamese cooks think it's sacrilegious to use canned coconut milk and insist on pressing their own coconuts for juice. I thought I could probably manage that too. My quest for mung beans wasn't easy. I found them in Flushing at a shop whose name I couldn't read but boasted fresh rice cakes made by hand on the hour, every hour. The hunt for coconuts was less fruitless. I guess it's not coconut season, or maybe I gotta seek out a black market for them because everyone I asked for coconuts looked offended. I took this as a sign it's not coconut season? I'm not sure- either way it's probably a blessing in disguise- just imagine me trying to ride my bike through Manhattan with a bunch of coconuts.

So, minus freshly pressed coconut juice, these are traditional Banh Xeo and Nuoc Cham recipes adapted and adjusted a little from Hot Sour Sweet Salty.

A day at the farm...

Eggplant

Ever had caponata? This is kinda like that...in pasta sauce form.

Holy Beets!

Alright...they were a little smaller than I'd thought they'd be. I showed up to harvest some beets today and after pulling a few, I realized it would take the entire bed of beets just to yield one of the "chilled beet and yogurt soup" I was dreaming up. Since they're so mini, I made some mini- crostinis with beets two ways, raw and roasted. The crostinis turned out beautifully! Enjoy...

Ground Cherries

This is officially my favorite farm recipe so far! I must admit I just ate three of these before sitting down to write. They are unexpectedly addictive!

Here are some pictures to get yourself through this recipe.

Start by removing all of the husks. For this recipe you need 2 cups of shelled ground cherries, that looks like a whole lot more to start!

Hopefully this helps you get to that half moon shape easily.

Remember to keep both your surface and your hands pretty well floured during this process, if the dough starts to stick, it can get pretty frustrating. If your shell rips, just patch it up with your fingers.

When you reduce the baking temperature to take them out, brush them with a little melted butter and sugar.

Let them cool before sliding them out of the tart shells.

Pretty little tarts!