Dinner

More chanterelles!!!



They're so young and perfect; not waterlogged like they will be later in the fall. Less water means less moisture/sogginess when you cook them - and more flavor.





And yes, I did sear that piece of halibut for dinner. We had some buttered zucchini "spaghetti" on the side, then the caramelized chanterelles (with a touch of garlic, white wine, lemon juice, and a healthy dose of butter) strewn over all. Mmm. I'd better go 'shrooming tomorrow...

Joy

Just look at this.



The first chanterelle of the season. Can you believe it? It's July!
The earliest I've seen them before was in September.



I am a very happy person right now.



But I'll be even happier tomorrow when I saute them in butter and either, A: make a fromage blanc and chanterelle tart, or B: add some white wine and Jersey cream and spoon them over a seared hunk o' halibut. There's just so many choices....

Happy May!

Yes, I'm back!
How could I not, when I have something so exciting to share?


The morels are finally out and about, and I have so far found 4 big yellows (today), and about 30 small/tiny whites yesterday, as well as two half-free morels.

So my friends and I made an asparagus and ramp risotto, seared some scallops, and sauced them with morels and cream. We sure did them 'shrooms proud!

That's all for now - my 5th term cooking practical is tomorrow...

Rampaging

I just finished putting up several more quarts of ramps, some pickled, others experimentally confited (cooked in butter, then jarred with enough butter to cover). The pickled ramps are nice, but they taste like pickles - very garlicky, spicy pickles. Hopefully by preserving in butter they will retain that sweet oniony taste. My hope is to be able to save them until graduation in June, so my family can try ramps for the first time. Maybe they'll even make it back to Washington!

Ramp fever is sweeping over the CIA these days; on any given afternoon you will see dozens of students emerging from the woods with a pungent bag of these wild leeks. The dorm and lodge fridges are stuffed with grocery bags and garbage bags full, and half the kitchens reek - in a good way - of ramps. But it will be over all too soon, as they finish growing, die back, and flower. It's best to enjoy them while they last.



Natalie and I went riding again yesterday. It was the perfect day for it - warm, a nice breeze - on a good horse! My friends and I spent the remainder of the afternoon exploring the woods around school - and found some amazing old ruins. I'll post photos later.

Today was a good day, though we had a lot of prep to do - like every Monday. We did apple tarts for a small banquet of 22; tomorrow it's 40 souffles. And then 66 apple tarts on Wednesday.

I feel like a weakling for hardly posting anymore, but working in the restaurants is very draining - all I want to do is sleep. But, less than 10 weeks of school left!!!!

Wildflowers

Today was another glorious, 75-degree day. It was a good thing that I brought my camera on my walk, because the first spring wildflowers are in bloom. I ended up sitting on a rock in the FDR field enjoying the last of the day's sun, while several owls had a hoot-off in the surrounding woods. There is no better way to spend an afternoon than tramping around barefoot in the woods and fields during these first real spring days.

I'm pleased to report that our pickled ramps are quite delicious, so we're definitely going to make more this weekend. On Saturday night I made a wild soup of potatoes, ramps, garlic mustard, chickweed and lots of nettles, finished with cream. Sadly the potatoes and cream are not wild. Super tasty, and very healthy too!

Our Easter celebration basically morphed into a dumpling-fest, as my friends and I made potstickers, empanadas, and pierogies, as well as a whole leg of lamb - grilled - and a bunny-shaped carrot cake. Aren't we festive...


bleeding heart


ramps!




nettles


faux black widow?


trout lily - notice the spotted leaves
will make you vomit!


bloodwort


bleeding bloodwort stem
quite toxic


skunk cabbage
not really edible unless you dry it first




I suppose you could eat this sucker if you really wanted to...
I'm not sure who would win




pink bleeding heart


garlic mustard
very tasty and spicy




glory of the snow

Happy April!

The sun is shining, it's 75 degrees out, and the world is turning green.
We'll toast the new month tonight with the unveiling of our first pickled ramps!

Saturday Hike

(see the Hudson River in the middle of the valley?)

Several of my friends and I went hiking at Sam's Point (south of the Minnewaska State Park Preserve) this weekend. It was the perfect day for it - sunny but cool - except that we drove up there and started seeing snow everywhere! Although it only covered about a quarter mile of the trail, the remainder of the trail was in far worse condition - either very deep mud (almost like quicksand) or water rushing down the path. AND, we ended up on the wrong path - which meant a 12 mile hike rather 8 miles. We're all a bit sore now!

The native plants were a nice change of pace from the brown and grey of the (still) dormant deciduous forests that I see everyday. Lots of small pines and birch, tons of blueberry bushes (I've been wondering if any will be ready before I graduate. Probably not, which is really too bad. That's one (only one?) thing I'll miss!), small cranberries in the bogs, and wintergreen. Wintergreen is a small evergreen trailing plant whose leaves smell and taste exactly like Listerine and toothpaste (in a good way!). It's nice to chew on a leaf as you hike along, but since it contains methyl salicylate, too much could be harmful.


snow? now?


a snowshell!




the not-quite-a-trail




wintergreen


an oasis at the top of the waterfall


Verkeerder Falls, 150 feet


the "Badlands" of the Hudson Valley


cranberry bog


view of the Hudson Valley


one of many rocks

Sunday and Monday were spent in the rain, picking ramps. They're currently residing in jars of brine in the fridge, pickling to death... Yum!

Happy Spring!!!

That's right! It's March 20, the first day of spring. The sun was out, the temperature managed to climb into the realm of the 70's, and the world is a happier place - well, at least New York is!

I soaked up all the sun I could while it lasted, by leaving my room at 12:15 and not returning until past 6:30. I walked barefoot to the FDR estate and did some homework (Wines homework/studying is unavoidable...), had a solo picnic (a seriously underrated activity, I must say. There is nothing quite like hiking out to some obscure grassy field with a hunk of good cheese and some fruit and savoring the sun and the peace of the outdoors), picked the first real ramps(!) and some more chickweed, and walked back. Of course I was just minutes from returning to campus when I ran into my friends who were headed to the fort, so I walked back out with them. The fort is absolutely perfect for vegging out in when it's as warm as today. The logs shield most, but not all, of the sun and a warm breeze wafts up from the side of the cliff. We constructed some pretty sweet "bone-mobiles", like something you would hang up in a little kid's room, but with various deer vertabrae, ribs, a couple leg bones, the odd coccyx, you know - just an everyday college activity... Actually, I think if someone were ever to find enough bones it would make a great little business - the bones could be painted different colors, maybe with a few bells or beads for added interest. It's best to start those toddlers young with their anatomy lessons...

Natalie finally got off work at 7:30 so we decided to cook steak for dinner. Keith fried potatoes and onions in duck fat while I seared the grassfed t-bone and porterhouse in more ducky goodness. We topped the steaks with a slice of butter apiece and a handful of wild greens. Mmm. The juice from the steak runs down to blend with the melting butter, the greens wilt under the heat of the steak, and it all makes for one hot-salty-buttery-meaty-bloody good mouthful. And even better, those leftovers mean only one thing... steak and eggs, baby!

The woods are alive with the sound of ... food!

I spent three hours outside on this wet, windy day, foraging for edibles. Nettles, baby ramps, wild onions, chickweed, wild mustard greens and garlic-mustard all made their way into my bag and eventually, my stomach.

The nettles were quickly sauteed and minced, then folded into a big bowl of grassfed ground beef, sauteed onions, garlic and ginger, along with beaten eggs and plenty of salt and pepper to make wonderful meatballs. I simmered sprouted red lentils with more garlic/ginger/onions, then topped them with butter-caramelized baby ramps and wild onions, and a big handful of crisp chickweed and mustard greens. This was one satifisying meal!

Back to the wine-swilling tomorrow!

Feral Feastin'

We stopped at The Big Cheese again yesterday to stock up for a cheese and "O Brother, Where Art Thou" party. But the big find was a splendid new book (only $4!) - Gourmet Cooking for Free, by Bradford Angier (1970).

Within its pages are recipes for things I can only dream about eating - animals and plants that most people haven't even seen, let alone munched on. Beaverburgers anyone?

I'll have to acquire some serious hunting skills to tackle many of these dishes:
Woodcock with cream
Roast coon
Porcupine liver
Pheasant hash
Beavertail soup
Fricasseed lynx
Crow with rice
Grouse alone can be broiled, creamed, roasted, and spitted. Oh yum! (and I mean it)

Here is one recipe to give you a taste:

Older Squirrels
... Or, particularly if you have a brace of squirrels that are among the elders of their clan, cut them into pieces. Brown these in 3 tablespoons of butter in an uncovered, large, heavy frypan.
Meanwhile, dice 1/2 dozen slices of bacon and bronze these in another pan, tipping the accumulating fat to one side so the bits can tan more deeply. Then add a diced onion, 1/4 diced green pepper, and a cup of chopped fresh mushrooms. Saute to a rich brown. Season to taste with salt, paprika, and freshly ground black pepper.
Cascade all this over the sizzling portions of squirrel. Add 3 tablespoons of flour mixed smoothly with a cup of dry sherry. Cover and simmer about an hour or until a sharp fork inserts and withdraws from a test piece of meat without binding, by which time it will whet the most jaded appetite. Serve with bountiful mashed potatoes.

I know what I'm eating for lunch tomorrow. I just have to remember to pick up a couple elderly squirrels on my way back from the Stop & Shop.



It's a real shame what's happened to cookbooks these days - they're just so tame.