Cookbooks2

Cookbooks2

I saw the invitation with the double billing and was so keen to attend the double-feature cookbook signing with food writers  Amanda Hesser and Melissa Clark.
It was like the old Doublemint commercial: “Double your pleasure, Double your fun!”

I guess I never looked at the actual tickets I purchased online nor the event’s scheduled agenda because as I approached the book signing venue at Chelsea Piers in NYC, I was not surprised to see growing crowd tag-teaming the check in staff positioned on both sides of the line.
But I was surprised to step inside to find a food and beverage tasting! 

I thought it would be the usual – a talk by the authors, followed by the actual book signings.

But this was a delightful amuse bouche!

(In fact, I saw more food tastings than book signings...)

First, I attended to business and purchased the two books so I’d be ready when the authors actually pulled out their autograph pens, poised mid-air to ask, “Who do I make it out to?”
I am developing quite a nice culinary library of autographed books that will soon rival my autographed garden books. 

The only problem with buying the two books right off the bat was Amanda Hesser’s revision of the classic New York Times cookbook is very heavy.

I wasn’t thinking of that as I confidently took the book-filled bag from the two nice lads writing up the sales.

It was an exuberant crowd that filled the candle-lit, two-tiered venue. A DJ was already laying down the music tracks. Camera-toting Papparazzi.  But here, the stars are the food!

Now this was a book party!  Barnes & Noble – take note.

Food related merchants from Edible Manhattan and East End magazines

to the incomparable Van Leeuwen’s artisanal ice cream to
Russ Daughters egg cream








and other spirits lined the sides of the cavernous room. The center and back were punctuated every few feet like those traffic cones - with those high cocktail tables.
Here, the master chefs were greeting the attendees and chatting it up while staff scurried platters of their hor d’ouevres, pop in your mouth sized food creations.

It was one giant pu pu platter!

I thought I’d be methodical about it. Down one side and up the other. 

However, I am easily seduced. So my strategy ended up a bit more like a pin ball – traversing the room when something caught my myopic eye. Or when the crowd parted like schools of fish at a chef table.

I missed two of “my’ Chefs from the Homegrown book:  Chef Michael Anthony, Gramercy Tavern, and Chef Dan Barber, Blue Hill. 

But I did get to see and talk to the amazing, ubiquitous Chef Bill Telepan who was standing guard enjoying everyone enjoying his pork shoulder served on the teeniest bun you’ve ever seen – more like serving the delicious strands of pork on a macaroon.

I got to meet some wonderful new chefs that I can consider for the New York City Homegrown book:  Chef Dan Silverman from the Standard Hotel. 

That hotel has some of the sexiest views in town – over the High Line and the Hudson River.  Love the rooftop.  Chef Dan offered Mondrian-looking Heirloom carrot and Goat Cheese Terrine.  Beautiful and tasty.

I also met the adorable Sisha Ortuzar, Riverpark restaurant, one of Tom Collicheo’s latest.

“What kind of name is that, I can’t help ask, while finishing a surging pop of sweet/sour flavor from his Pickled Shrimp creation.  I am startled it’s so good.  I learned he made a brittle of the pickling spices and crowned the tops!

Chef says,  My name is Chilean. But I am not.”  Oh, how did you get the name then, I ask while trying his other offering, mackerel and cod balls coated with spice crumbs. 

“My name is Sanskrit.”

Huh?

We practically both nod in unison and say in stereo, “hippie parents.”  

Chef Sisha says Riverpark restaurant will soon have its own garden.  They even gave out cute little seed packets at the event.

It wasn't long before Columbia University TV journalism students were interviewing chef:







I will surely go and visit these two chefs at their restaurants for follow up.

Meanwhile, there is the Apple Picker Punch from Cienfuegos to be refreshed (made with lime, ginger, Ron Zacapa Centernario 23-year, allspice dram and apple butter, and topped with soda);

vegetable sushi from Blue Ribbon Sushi to try, along with Marc Murphy’s Shrimp Toast.  Heading for the Luchy’s Whey center table featuring cheese from Cellars at Jasper Hill,

I see Nora Ephron.  I love her!

 

I had to tell her I loved her feature article in the December issue of Town & Country.
She smiles and says a sincere “thank you.”  She looks great in person too. (No neck thing whatsoever!)  The T&C story is a Q&A with Ina Garten.  (BTW, Ina’s publicist won’t return my emails anymore – I asked her to be in the Long Island Homegrown Cookbook about master chefs and their inspired gardens but I give up.  I have the best Long Island chefs included and I think she will be noticed by her absence... So Ina’s not on my favs list. But Nora is.)

And I will make point to attend Nora’s latest play, “Love, Loss & What I Wore."

*Also, in the same issue is the T&C List, highlighting “The Quietest Restaurants in  the World.”  The New York (City) list features eight restaurants – half of which are in my New York Homegrown book about culinary artists and their inspired gardens and farms!  A big "Shout Out" for the restaurants Annisa  www.annisa.com, I Trulli, www.itrulli.com, Marea, www.marea.com, and Savoy www.savoy.com  

Shhhhhh.

The old-fashioned, homemade egg creams served by Russ & Daughters was sinfully delicious- made with Fox’s chocolate syrup.

I tasted my way back to the front of the room hoping to get my now slightly burdensome books signed by the authors. 

The two book lads told me Melissa was to have done her books first but Melissa deferred to Amanda, saying she could do hers first.  But no sign of either of them…

At the next table was the Van Leeuwen artisanal ice cream tastings.  Uh oh.  I know and love their ice cream and visit their truck that is parked on Fifth Avenue and 16^th street too often.  Before I knew it, the very confident and pretty woman was handing me their egg nog and pumpkin pie ice cream confection. 

It gave meaning to waiting for the books to be signed.  Ahhhh..
With her charming Australian accent, she told me Van Leeuwen is owned by her -- Laura  -- and her husband, Ben and his brother, Peter.  They have a few trucks and have started to stock their this-side-of -heaven ice cream in some Whole Foods stores. She pointed out not yet at the Whole Foods in Union Square, which is too bad as that is my local store.  But I have the truck to visit and get the goods. 

In the time it takes to finish off a Dixie cup-size sundae, Amanda was there to sign books.

She is so very petite – almost elfin.  The contrast with her hefty tome couldn’t have been more pronounced.  Laughing, I asked her how she stays so thin producing such a weighty, recipe-filled cookbook.  “It’s a secret,” she giggled back.

Here I am with author, Amanda after she signed my book!






Amanda is a New York Times columnist and former editor.  She also runs the popular cooking site:  www.food52.com

Be sure to purchase this once in a lifetime, must-have classic cookbook:  “The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century.”  

You can’t call yourself a real cook without this guide. Amanda solicited readers’ input on favorite recipes to include in the book’s more than 1,000 offerings.  It’s fun to see which ones made it and how they reflect a period of time. It’s also a history of great American cooking.

Food defines a culture and this labor of love cookbook is a cultural touchstone.

Amanda cheerfully signed my book.  And then like a sprite was off.

Joined by Melissa and Amanda,
I soon heard Chef Bill Telepan speaking with microphone to the entire room about childhood diabetes, the fact that now, more than 40% of New Yorkers are obese. He is a tireless crusader to secure healthy, fresh, unprocessed food and meals for all our citizens, especially those in underserved neighborhoods.  Chef Bill is to be applauded for his generosity and devotion, making appearances seemingly everywhere: from the Martha Stewart radio show to NPR to Greenmarket events.  I told him his is ubiquitous!

The two food writers also addressed the guests, thanking the chefs and their publishers and all who helped put the evening together.

Following Chef Bill’s remarks, Melissa made her way to the book-signing table.  She too is a thin pipsqueak!  See, there is something to eating –and writing about good food – that must keep foodies healthy and thin…

Melissa is a food writer for the New York Times, a James Beard Foundation Award winner, has written nearly 30 cookbooks and runs her popular web site and blog: www.melissaclark.net

And her daughter’s name is Dahlia!  I love that she is named for a flower.  How charming J 

Melissa cheerfully posed for a picture with me








and autographed the book, “In The Kitchen With a Good Appetite” that is a synthesis or curated compilation of her New York Times’ column. 

I was the first to secure Melissa's autograph.  Soon a line was at the table






Soon it seemed that “half-time” was over. An announcement was made that the second shift of chefs and their tastings would be coming out soon for the second half.  A quick run down of the roster, if you will, told me I’d recently seen and tasted the fantastic food from these chefs.  It was getting later and since I wasn’t really dressed for the occasion, I decided to scoot home – with my goody bag and my signed books.

A delightful, delicious evening!

Thank you Ladies, for a wonderful food surprise.

   

Cayuga Pure Organics and The Rye Bread Story

Cayuga Pure Organics – Locally Grown Dried Beans & Grains from New York’s Finger Lakes Region

It all started for me – the love affair with Cayuga Pure Organics, that is – after reading Florence Fabricant’s New York Times’ sweet spotlight on the revived grain growing in upstate New York.

(Well, maybe part of the love was joyfully recollecting my father crooning his beloved alma mater Cornell University's school song, "... Far Above Cayuga's Waters...")  

Florence wrote:  “Packaged under the Farmer Ground Flour label, the flours are sold in paper sacks in Greenmarkets by Cayuga Pure Organics, a participant in the cooperative. The flours are fresh, and have not sat for months in warehouses.”  http://tinyurl.com/ydh8f6u

My husband loves rye bread. 

I make bread every other Saturday morning and couldn’t wait to try out this fresh, pure rye flour. 

I visited Cayuga’s Pure Organics at New York’s Greenmarket in Union Square http://www.cenyc.org/greenmarket to purchase my rye flour.  

In telling my rye bread story, and looking over their whole grain recipe and beans and… I was told Cayuga didn’t have a rye bread recipe and they’d be happy to share my recipe at their booth.

I was on it.

That Friday, Cayuga’s unassuming brown paper bag with the rye flour peering back at me from the bag’s window, made the ferry trip back with me to the Garden State and our cooking kitchen there. (In contrast to here in Gotham, where we prefer to enjoy all the great restaurants and don’t cook in the kitchen J)

On the way, I got to thinking that I wanted a more special, perhaps more deserving bread recipe than my usual.  Coincidently, there was a multi grain bread-baking article in Martha Stewart Living’s recent Martha Stewart Living Magazine. (This was turning into a trend, I thought...)

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/multigrain-bread

It looked interesting. But then it hit me – I’ll ask my Hamptons sherpa Peter Garnham, Hamptons master gardener at the East End Community Organic Farm, writer, The American Hotel’s Ted Conklin’s garden consultant and bread baker extraordinaire, for his recipe. 

Bingo.

I considered all the recipes, and then massaged them slightly to make the best rye bread ever.

I wanted to call it, “Peter’s Pain” as the recipe is, by and large, Peter’s. 

And Pain is French for bread, if you don’t know... and pain, sounds like pan.

Peter Pan!  How perfect, I thought. 

The name captured the fairy tale and alchemy essence of the bread-baking miracle.

I wrote to Peter to share my excitement about the bread recipe results and my brilliant moniker.  You can imagine how crestfallen I was then when he wrote his pithy response, noting that he had indeed sometimes been referred to as a P-A-I-N. 

I hadn’t considered how it would read. 

Back to the drawing board.

Then, over oysters at Fish Restaurant in the Village with my friend, Beth, I was recounting my failed attempt at naming the bread recipe – and she came up with a brilliant solution. Beth speaks Spanish and therefore recommended the Spanish word for bread: Pan!

We were back to the magic of Peter Pan!

I made up index cards with the “Peter’s Pan” Rye Bread recipe and took it to the Cayuga Pure Organics booth at Greenmarket – along with the bread sample. 

Here are Cayuga’s Ted -- Lauren had just stepped away:

(While there, I had to buy some spelt. I found a really good recipe I want to try out.  Stay tuned.)

Without further delay, here is Peter’s Pan Rye Bread Recipe:

Peter’s Pan

Ingredients:

4½  cups bread flour

¼ +  cup brown sugar

2 tsp instant yeast

2 TB caraway seed

1½  tsp salt

Method:

2 cups warm water

2 TB vegetable oil

2+ cups rye flour

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten with 1 tsp water

In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the K-paddle, combine 2 cups flour,

sugar, yeast, caraway seed, and salt. Add warm water and oil, beat for 2

minutes at medium speed. Add ½ cup flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed.

Scrape bowl as needed.

Stir in rye flour and enough remaining bread flour to make a soft dough.

Knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Adjust moisture if

necessary. Cover and let dough rest for about 10 minutes.

Divide dough in half. Shape each piece into a boule, or place in bread pans.

Place boules on parchment-lined baking sheet. Dust with flour, cover with

plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Slash the tops, and brush with egg mixture. Bake at 400°F for 35 minutes.

Allow to cool on wire rack.

Yield: 2 loaves             http://celebritychefsandtheirgardens.blogspot.com/

Let me know what you think!

See Cayuga Pure Organics to learn more about their dry beans, grains, corn, and soy.

http://www.cporganics.com/live/