STIR THE POTS

DNA (Derek and Alex)

Visiting Montreal, I was invited to eat at what sounded like a labratory or molecular restaurant called DNA. It's a terrific place, the science here mixed with great art created by Chef/Partner Derek Dammann and Wine director/Partner Alex Cruz (DNA's "Cuisine Complice"). 

Housed on the edge of the Old Montreal, it's an awe inspiring setting that delivers equal emotion in terms of food. A focus of the owners is to highlight Canadian products in terms of both food and wine.  

 

                                                          Chef Derek Dammann

Upon arriving with a party that included Montreal chef Michele Forgione, along with New York restauranteur Sarah Jenkins and her chef Lauren, we were given a tour of the facitlities, including the wine cellar where lots of Derek's home cured charcuterie hangs, literally. Then there's this amazing slicer....jaw dropping chef toy!

Dinner included an array of amazing dishes and wines. As Dana and Alex explained the cuisine, I snapped photographs, trying simultaneously to remember their words, capture the beauty of the scene, and also to sustain the succulence of all the flavors as long as possible. Enjoying a meal that could make you dizzy with delight, the evening became a wonderful blur which even affected my photographs (though let's blame that on the dimming of the lights).  

If I am so lucky to return again to Montreal, I will go back and visit, hopefully get a sample of nose to tail cuisine or more of that Sea Duck I had, how deliciously gamey and so Canadian!

I especially want to thank Michele Forgione, my host, for introducing me to two amazing gourmands, who by the way are headed to Noma, no doubt for some inspiration!

Thanks Alex and Derek, superb!

Poppy seed bread, Mackowiec

"Makowiec (pronounced "Ma-KOH-viets") isn't, strictly speaking, a holiday bread. But it is a classic Polish dessert or tea bread that is commonly served around the holidays. And it is delicious."  From The Fresh Loaf

A staple of Eastern European pastry, Mackowiec bread is now hard to find in New York. It was once a staple of Jewish bakers at places like Ratners or Moishes. But many of these places are gone. Half Jewish, half Catholic, I think of it as a great bread to bake for the spring-fed celebration of Easter. 

Last Sunday I baked some loaves, using a recipe for yeasted brioche au pur beurre, and adding the standard grated lemon and vanilla flavor usually found in Mackowiec dough. For those sourdough zealots, I had no levain fed, so I used yeast. There's nothing wrong with that if your jonesing a Mackowiec!

I also included ground-up poppy seeds, milk, honey, golden raisens and, because I love nuts, added some chopped walnuts... cooking it together over a low heat till sticky and pasty. Careful, don't scorch this mix! 

Once the Mackowiec dough was risen, I flattened it, filling it with paste, and shaping it together like a jelly roll. This time I didn't spread the paste all the way around to the edges, nor did I roll it tightly enough. Next time. 

I let the Mackowiec rise a second time for about an hour. When pressed and leaving an indentation from my finger, I brushed it with whipped egg and baked at 375 F for about 25-30 minutes. Then cool and serve at room temp. If you can wait! 

 

 

Osteria Venti, Michele Forgione

Over the Easter holidays I decided to head up to Montreal to visit a chef who I follow on Twitter, Michele Forgione of Osteria Venti. It turned out that my visit brought him another visitor, Chef and authour Sarah Jenkins of Pochetta in NYC.

 

My first day there, I also got to meet Michele's friend Marc Andre Cyr, someone else with whom I have corresponded with on Twitter. Marc and Michele both have encouraged me to see whats happening in the tight knit Montreal cooking community in Montreal. Their suggestion yielded rewards, letting me meet a community of dedicated and disciplined culinarians, cooking with esprit. 

Michele comes from Puglian stock, a proud Italian through and through. He makes simple and simultaneously delicious dishes that recall his childhood visits to his grandparents. From charcuterie to pasta, he stays true to the images and tastes that seem to be rooted deep in his soul.

What also impressed me was his team, from the newly hired restaurant front house staff in training, to several of his cooks who have followed Michele's career around Montreals kitchens.

 Michele loves his city, his heritage, and of course great food. I felt at home and pleased to find so many common interests and tastes in food with my new friend, and hope to go and visit a lot more. Especially if he lets me bake bread like I did this time, Pugliese bread of course!

 

 

Marc André Cyr and Olive et Gourmando

 

Years ago visiting Montreal for the first time, I enjoyed the cafe Olive et Gourmando. It's home to my new-found baking friend Marc Andre Cyr. We met on Twitter, with both of us sharing a big appreciation for great bread. He both bakes and cooks at the cafe, and gives private classes. If you can't go visit him in Montreal, visit his blog.

 
                                  Marc and Vanessa with breads for Osteria Venti

 

Visiting this past weekend, this place was packed. As the photo below states (a sign that sits above the counters), Olive et Gourmando are serving true quality.

After communicating over Twitter, I finally had a chance to meet him. He invited me to stay for lunch, suggesting a salmon platter, one of the many dishes his girlfriend Vanessa (who cooks with him at the cafe) had created. 

Featuring hot smoked and cold smoked salmon, a menagerie of salad, radishes, cucumbers, egg, celery remoulade, it was delicious and beautiful. It came with a serving of Marc's amazing toasted buckwheat bread the seeds of which provided a lovely nuance to a flavor-filled platter, which I washed down with some Oregonian beer from Rogue Ale, Dead guy ale. 

I returned again for breakfast the next day, enjoying at Pointe-à-Callière in the sun, a cafe Americano with a Chausson au pomme covered with brown sugar and amazing apple filling. As well as a a brioche filled with apricots, white chocolate and macadamia for desert. Decadent, eh?

 My last morning in Montreal, I had to get to Olive et Gourmando to say goodbye to Marc, so why not have some breakfast? I ordered up Vanessa's "poached-egg-on-your-face-panini sandwich," very difficult to eat but amazing to eat, worth the post-sandwich face wiping and messy fingers!

Waste not want not

In this time of budget cuts and people in terrible need, wasting food is wrong. My mother grew up in France during WW II. She didn't starve but she did quickly learn the value of frugality. I guess she passed on a those values, though avoiding waste doesn't mean a person should embrace suffering and matyrdom. Far from it. It just means being creative. Here's some flavorful approaches to being creative with leftovers.

 

Recently I had leftover risotto with shrimp from a weekend brunch. So I whipped up some eggs, chopped up some onions. Along with some beet tops, Which I served as a vegetable side.

 

That calls for a rice, shrimp frittata with sauteed beet tops....

 With the same leftovers (shimp and risotto) take a couple eggs, sautéd onion, and make your frittata!

A salad with yogurt sesame dressing as a cleanser!

Vermont, lessons from a Master baker

It's been years since I first met baker and writer Jeffrey Hamelman at a BBGA book signing event in Long Island City. Eventually I interviewed him here, and also took a course he gave in Vermont. To this day I still have notes from that weekend course. This weekend I took them out to make some bread.

The experience reminded me of something Jeffrey maintains: feed the levain! It's your friend, your child and simultaneously your parent. It demands love and gives it if you do the same. A friend recently described how emotional they felt at the power of the levain's power to create, to give life. They wanted to cry during a production of Easter breads. Religious? No, just the awesome power of levain!

Meaning, provide regular feed, water and flour and you'll see its mysterious and wonderful bacterial self transform into a powerhouse. As Jeffrey taught us. So without further ado, my loaves from my class with master baker Jeffrey Hamelman and using King Arthur Flour... made at home.

 

 

Pain au levain

 

 

Walnut, raisin and fennel, Originally walnut and currants....didn't have any currants!

 

On the other end of the mike

Go here to listen interview where Jeremy is interviewed along with Shuna Lydon. Thanks to Michael Harlan Turkell and HeritageRadioNetwork.com

Breads from Turkey - in honor of the Arab Spring

In Egypt today most people are concerned with getting bread to eat. Only some of the educated understand how democracy works -Naguib Mahfou, Egyptian novelist

 (Thanks to Jean-Philippe de Tonnac for posting these timely words by Naguib Mahfouz!) 

 Watching the Arab Spring Revolution, it makes me wonder about the impact of food on politics, especially bread. It made me think of their classic breads, basic sustenance that suggests cultures that are enduring, imaginative, and rich.

My closest experience to Egypt comes from visiting Istanbul, where I quickly grew to admire the local pide or pizza vendors. Working with just a stove and small island to prep, along with a long peel to feed the dough into the ovens, I remember wanting to ask them if they would teach me. Their output was consistently delicious. 

Thinking about their baking this weekend, I decided to see if I could replicate some of them. Below are shots of some of the creations. They turned out well. It's worth a try on your own. 

What intriguing about pide and lahmacun ( a spiced meat paste on pide dough), are the flavorful toppings and the oddly attractive shapes. The pizzas are not your usual rounds. Rather they are oblong, shaped like a canoe with folded edges holding the filling.

Lahmacun, on the other hand, is a round meat pie that is covered and baked. The various toppings can be whatever you like, but traditionally it's sumac-smothered onion slices. Or sometimes it is topped with coriander and parsley.

 

 

Finally there is the versatile and wonderful "khubz Za'atar," a flat bread from the Levantine. A variation of pide, it's a close cousin to pizza, and a great wrap or dipping bread.

 Brushed with oil and scattered with the heady zataar spice, it's either baked on a stone or a pan.

 

It's also a great foil for my favorite lamb and beef kofte.

 

Sweet breaks

My friends (and fellow bloggers) Zen Chef and Mindful Eats recently proposed a creative tweet-up, which basically is an offline collaboration organized via Twitter.  On a service break at work, I ran from my mid-town NYC kitchen downtown to Nolita. There, at The Little Cupcake Bakeshop, the owner  Massimo had lent me and my friends the time and space to chat, crack and seperate eggs, and create some ice cream. 

 

Here is a bit of picture while helping Zen chef churn his libations, including vanilla, maple walnut, chocolate (Mindful Eats loves chocolate!) and olive oil ice cream!

Mindful Eats provided the eggs and ice cream from her partnership with local organic milk producers NYFoods, as well.

I only got a spoonful of the churned chocolate, which was delightful, before needing to to get back to serve dinner at work. Next time!

 

On the road again....

Just as spring flowers are exploding from the pods, I feel the urge to spread my wings. Or rather, start moving my legs.

And most chefs gain a belly during winter, unless,  of course they're naturally skinny and don't have the  metabolism of a Russian circus wrestler. So it's stretch and a spin or just sit and get big. Nope, not doing that!

 

 A fat chef isn't a healthy one. There's no reason to drop dead on the line just because you're tired or out of breathe. C'mon get on a bike, run, jog, walk....get those bodies moving!