maltagliati. cut brooklyn.

Maltagliati or (badly cut pasta in italian) is my favorite kind of pasta to make. Its large irregular cuts speak to my rustic imperfect side and this knife from Cut Brooklyn the object of my current obsession, is just the knife to cut it! I am seriously obsessed with the knives of blade smith Joel Bukiewicz. I first spotted one of them at the stall of Brooklyn Butcher Blocks at the New Amsterdam Market. I have since used Joel’s knives in any editorial I can squeeze them into. I like to have them on set so I can pine over them! Last week while shooting a feature for a European editorial on Brooklyn Artisans the knives came up again when Joel appeared on the list. I had never been to his studio/shop in Gowanus and was excited to check it out. It happens to be just down the block from Hungry Ghost favorite Four and Twenty Blackbirds and not surprisingly, the  Brooklyn knife maker and pie making sisters are friends!

Joel started making knives about seven years ago when he was living in a small town outside Atlanta. He came to be a blade smith via a hiatus from writing in which he has a degree. Metal work and furniture building eventually led him to this pure precise craft. His knives feel alive, each one carefully crafted for precision, balance and control. They are both light and powerful in hand, each feels as though it has a story to tell.

The knives of his assistant Moriah Cowels, a former blacksmith from Northern Vermont are just as beautiful in their own right. Where his are dark and masculine hers are more feminine and whimsical, but no less powerful.

 

 Knife Cut Brooklyn, Bladesmith Joel Bukiewicz

 

Knives Moriah Cowles at Cut Brooklyn 

where the wild things are. no.4. black walnuts. a tough nut to crack.

 

I am definitely into squirreling away Black Walnuts this year!

While working in Hudson, New York this past week we stopped to gather a bushel that had fallen from a tree we spotted at the woods edge.

Gathering and cleaning Black Walnuts can be a bit of an ordeal, but totally worth the time.The walnuts can be gathered once they have dropped to the ground. Pick them up when they have a green husk. They can then be laid out to age in a dry spot until the husk turns a yellow brown. At that point the outer husk will come off fairly easily, however if you have any trouble just circle around the husk with a small sharp paring knife. Make sure to wear gloves while removing the husk, as the tannins will stain your fingers. The hull should be removed to allow the walnuts to dry out. If the husk is left on, the heat caused by the decomposition of the hull will change the flavor of the walnut. I do know some people who prefer to leave the nut in the hull for a year or more before removing it because they feel it ages the walnut like a great wine or cheese. 

Once the nuts are free of the husk it is best to let them sit a month or two to age. Lay them out on newspaper or brown paper bags. The dryer the nut, the easier it will be to remove the nutmeat without damaging it. I leave them to dry for a few months or more in a well-squirreled proofed place! 

There is much written about the black walnut being that it is a very tough nut crack. You will find many bizarre and unfamiliar suggestions  such as driving over it with a car or wearing heavy work boots to crack the shell, however I have found that a small hammer or a vice will do just fine without damaging the meat inside.

The black walnut has a distinct taste and smell that is unlike the commercial walnut that most of us are used to. Black Walnuts taste of dirt, mushrooms and wine and smell a tiny bit sour, but I promise they taste delicious! The taste is very earthy and lends an interesting rich flavor to many foods. Use them anywhere you would use walnuts.

Recently I made a raw milk panna cotta with a maple and black walnut glaze. I also dropped some into a jar of local honey and served the honey and walnuts with an aged tilsit. Add them to a pesto for an earthiness or to a traditional brownie recipe for an earthy bite.

Next year I will  try pickling black walnuts which has to be done before the shell starts to harden. 

 PANNA COTTA WITH MAPLE AND BLACK WALNUT

Adapted from an Alice Water's recipe from the Chez Panisse Cookbook.

1/4 ounce package of unflavored gelatin

flavorless vegetable oil or almond oil

vanilla bean

3 cups of heavy cream

1 cup of whole milk (I used raw milk)

1/4 cup sugar

Put three tablespoons of cold water in a stainless steel bowl, sprinkle on the gelatin and set aside to soften.

 Lightly brush the ramekins or vessels you will be using with the almond oil or vegetable oil. Set them aside in the fridge to chill while proceeding with the recipe.

Cut the vanilla bean and scrape the inside into a medium sized sauce pan along with the cream, sugar and milk.

Bring to a simmer and cook for about a minute.

Remove from the heat and let the cream mixture cool, stirring occasionally for ten minutes or so.

Pour about one cup or so over the softened gelatin.

Stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved, pour it back into the remaining cream mixture and stir well.

Strain through a fine mesh sieve and pour into ramekins or vessels.

Refrigerate for four hours or overnight.

If you are turning the Panna Cotta out of the ramekin, slide a knife around the outside the panna cotta and turn out onto a dish.

I choose to leave them in their vessels.

Maple Black Walnut Glaze.

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

4 black walnuts 

shell the walnuts and coarsely chop. Set aside.

Put the 1/2 cup of maple syrup in a sauce pan and heat on medium heat until it just simmers. Turn it down to low and cook for 5 minutes to thicken slightly.

Spoon the warm maple syrup over the individual panna cotta and add a few pieces of black walnut to each.

Serve while the syrup is warm.

 

 

 Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved 

roasted squash seeds with cumin and turmeric

Today was a blissfully lazy Sunday. Aside from wrapping up a job and sending it out the door via the transcendental we transfer waves; I did little more than nothing.

I never made it to the market today or even out of the house for that matter. This morning Lula wanted roasted acorn squash with maple syrup and butter for breakfast. So while making it, I cleaned and set aside the seeds to roast later in the day.

It was while I was sitting here not really doing much of anything that I decided to roast them with cumin seed and turmeric. Roasted seeds are a classic not to be missed staple of fall for me. We used to roast them with a little oil and salt. They were always so simple and delicious. This is a grown up take on the classic roasted pumpkin or squash seed.

Serve it with a nice sharp tilsit and a cold glass of hard cider!

Roasted Squash Seeds With Cumin Seed and Turmeric

½ cup squash seeds or pumpkin

pinch sea salt

½ teaspoon  ground turmeric

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

 1tablespoon olive oil

Clean the squash seeds by putting them in a large bowl of water and swooshing them around. This will separate the remaining squash bits from the seeds. The seeds will float to the top and any squash debris will sink to the bottom.

Scoop up the seeds that have floated to the surface of the water, with a small strainer and set them on a paper towel to dry.

When the seeds are dry set them in a bowl and sprinkle then with a pinch of sea salt,

½ tsp. of cumin seeds and ½ tsp. of turmeric. Toss evenly with a spoon.

Spread them out on a lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and a pinch more sea salt.

Roast at 475 degrees for 5 minutes

Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved 

concord grape.

I have really been into Concord Grapes this season. I have been eating them nonstop. I have made several rounds of sorbet and ice cream. There is something so exquisitely nostalgic about the taste of Concord Grapes. No other grape tastes so classically “grape” and no other have the same dark luscious color. It is the complete and utter taste of the grape of my childhood. We had wild Concord grapes growing on the backside of our barn and on a huge boulder settled in the center of the apple orchard. We did nothing to keep them but they kept giving to us to us year after year.

I have a vivid memory from when I was about five or six of sitting at the kitchen table on a late fall afternoon, the air in the kitchen was heavy with the smell sugar and grapes. It was a jam weekend. I sat for what seemed forever, watching the absurd  bundle of smashed grapes drip through the many layers of cheesecloth twisted and stained and tied in a tidy knot. The juice of the grapes fell steadily into a large bruised ironstone bowl that sat in the middle of the long slate sink. The sound somewhat hypnotized me as the last of the late afternoon sun pierced the air and tiny dust particles floated about. As night settled in the only movement was the cat brushing  against my leg and the constant plip, plip, plip of the grape. 

Yes, Concord grapes have seeds but I have no issues with the seeds. Life is not seedless.

A Non Traditional Concord Grape Sorbet and Ice Cream

The first time I set out to make Concord grape ice cream and sorbet I had a houseful of girls and not a lot of time and one of them was allergic to eggs, so I decided to try my luck with a non-egg ice cream and a straight up sorbet. Eggs are essentially there in ice cream to act as an emulsifier and to create a light custard so I wasn’t sure how my non egg ice cream was going  to work out. I started with 8 cups or so of Concord grapes, which I destemmed.  I made my grape juice concentrate by cooking down the grapes until just soft, cooling them, then pulsating them in a blender for a quick moment. I then ran them through a sieve to separate the seeds and the solids from the juice. After transferring the juice back to a pot, I added 1 cup of sugar and returned the grape juice to the low flame, while stirring constantly until the sugar was dissolved. I then cooled the grapes juice until luke warm and added two cups of heavy cream. Stir until blended. (Don’t worry if it does not look completely mixed, it will integrate fully later when it goes in the ice cream maker.) I put the mixture of cream and grape juice in the freezer in a metal bowl to chill. When it was completely cold after and hour or so, I poured it into the bowl of my Cuisinart ice cream maker and followed instructions. When the ice cream had formed I transferred it to a shallow container with a top and put it in the freezer to further set. It was a vibrant grape color and deliciously creamy, the texture seemed totally fine to me and the girls had no complaints in fact they could not eat enough of it!! So, was this an ice cream ? I am not sure. Most ice cream recipes tend to call for eggs, so does it technically count? Or was it something akin to frozen Concord grape cream? I really don’t know. I just know it was delicious.

I made the sorbet the same exact way with the exception of not using cream. I started with 8 cups of concord grapes, roughly two quarts. I destemmed the grapes and threw them all in a pot with 1 cup of water and the juice of half a lemon. I cooked them down until soft, mashing them a bit. When they seemed soft, I set them aside to cool. I then transferred them in two batches to the blender and gave them a quick pulse to chop them up a bit further. (This is just a quick pulse; you don’t want to chop the seeds to bits!) I then ran the puree through a sieve to separate the seeds and solids from the juice. I transferred the juice back to the pot on low heat and added one cup of sugar stirring constantly until the sugar was dissolved. I put the mixture into a metal bowl in the freezer to chill. When it was completely cool, I transferred the liquid to the Cuisinart ice cream maker and followed instructions. When the sorbet formed, I transferred it to a shallow container with a top and placed it in the freezer to set. The result was a very dark and juicy Concord sorbet.

If you are stickler and have the time, you can deseed the grapes before you cook them down. I don’t choose to do it that way.

Below is a recipe for a more traditional way of making an ice cream. For me cooking is about experimenting and inspiration I follow very few rules except when it comes to hardcore baking because no one likes a saggy cake!

Concord Grape Ice Cream

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup of milk

1 ¾ cups sugar cups

¼ cup water

8 cups concord grapes

4egg yolks

pinch of sea salt

Place the grapes in a large saucepan with ¼ cup water and cook over low heat until bubbling. Smash the grapes with a wooden spoon to break them up a bit.

When the grapes are soft. Cool, then place in a blender for a quick pulse to further break them up.

Strain the grape solids and seeds from the juice through a sieve and set the juice aside to cool.

In the meantime,

Combine the cream, milk  and half the sugar in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat.

In a separate bowl whisk the yolks with the other half of the sugar.

When the cream mixture is just heated, whisk a cup or thereabouts, 1/4 cup at a time, into the eggs until the sugar and cream is fully combined with the egg yolks and sugar. Transfer back to the pot and cook over a low heat, stirring constantly for a few minutes until the mixture has just thickened to a light custard

Combine the cooled grape juice and the custard until integrated. Don’t worry if it does not fully mix, it will later in the ice cream maker.

Pour into a large bowl and chill.

When the mixture has cooled completely. Transfer to the bowl of your ice cream maker follow. Once the ice cream has formed, remove it from the ice cream maker and pack the ice cream into a shallow container with a top, and freeze for a few hours. Your ice cream is then ready!

 

ingredients for plum and grape tart

Concord grape Sorbet and ice Cream

cooking down the Concord grapes and running them through a sieve

Concord grape ice cream and sorbet 

to see a gallery of grapes click here

 Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved 

rooftop rockaway

two AMAZING things in one.

Eagle Street Rooftop Farm and Rockaway Taco.

What's not to love?

Rooftop Rockaway!

http://www.eventbrite.com/orderconfirmation/2239678940/54668922/

It comes once a year: it's Rockaway Taco at the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm! Come on up Sunday, October 16th from 3-6pm Your $15 gets you two tacos and a beverage, a priceless view, a beautiful afternoon, and the heartwarming pleasure of helping good farmers grow.