the danes

 

© Ditte Isager

The worlds top 50 restaurants awards were announced recently, and NOMA takes first place again!

If you get a chance you should peruse the gorgeously photographed book NOMA, photographed by Danish photographer Ditte Isager, styled by Christine Rudolph. The name NOMA is an acronym of the two Danish words "nordisk" meaning Nordic and "mad" meaning food.  NOMA is known for its reinvention and interpretation of the Nordic Cuisine. In both 2010 and 2011 it was ranked as the Best Restaurant in the World. A trio of Danes, Chef René Redzepi, Isager and Rudolph teamed up to create a Nordic sliver of exquisite beauty. I am most inspired by Redzepi's use of the local and wild ingredients. 

It is one of the most beautiful books I have seen in a long while. It also happens to be up for several James Beard awards including photography!

 Here is a link if you want to buy the book on line.

http://www.phaidon.com/store/food-cook/noma-9780714859033/

eat your kale. it is good food.

 

Kale is one of those vegetables that I was sort of unsure about as a kid. We grew a few different varieties in our garden and being very hardy, kale was always amongst the last of the vegetables standing as the frost spread it's beautiful patterns across the ground. Which meant kale had quite a long run at the dinner table at our house. I was lover of spinach and broccoli rabe and couldn't really get enough of them, but kale was another matter altogether. Perhaps it was the way that it was cooked that turned me off. To me, It was simply in the same category as collards and turnip greens, they all seemed bitter and tough to my childish palette. In my adult life I have had a change of heart towards this miracle Brassica. I simply cannot eat enough of it! I think the trick comes down to how it is cooked and what it is paired with. I can't imagine making a tuscan white bean soup without it or any winter vegetable soup for that matter. My favorite way by far to make it is inspired  by a recipie from the Lucky Dog Farm Store in Hamden New York. They make a very simple but addictive raw kale salad. 

Below is my interpretation.

 Lucky Dog Raw Kale Salad

Take a good sized bunch of organic kale of any variety. I like Cavolo Nero (also known as Tuscan or Dinosaur) or Russin kale

 With a large knife, Chop the entire bunch into medium size pieces

Mince and chop 3 cloves of garlic

Add  the garlic to the kale and a healthy healthy dose of olive oil and  pinch of celtic grey sea salt. 

Massage the garlic, olive oil and sea salt into the kale  with your hands until the kale starts to soften.

Set aside for a half hour or so before serving as it will continue to soften and breakdown.

This salad stores well and is great the next day.

add salt to taste.

This is a bright green, raw salad, full of iron and calcium and antioxidants. It is my daughters favorite!

what more could I ask for?

 

Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved

the gathering.

At 7am on a terribly rainy Saturday, I made my way up Broadway through the ultra quiet streets of Soho to The Union Square Greenmarket to meet my friend and fellow gastrophile, Nancy Jo. After much indecision about what to do for Easter this year, I decided to stay in the city and cook with friends.

Nancy and I decided to set some parameters for the meal. We would be inspired by our shared Southern Italian roots and the bounty of Spring. At the market we bought pink oyster mushrooms, ramps, Arucauna and pheasant eggs, dinosaur kale, french radishes,  spicy spring greens, Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, rhubarb, cippolini onions, escarole, baby artichokes, artisan bread, mint and other herbs. Then, over a soft boiled egg at  Le Pan Quotidian, escaping the rain...we plotted our menu.

crostini with ramp

crostini with poached rhubarb, thyme and fresh ricotta

crostini with sauteed pink oyster mushrooms

hard boiled arucauna  and pheasant eggs with sale di cervia and crushed black pepper

 french radishes with sea salt and butter

assorted meat and cheeses, fennel salami and Prosciutto di Parma

homemade ricotta with miele di castagno

frittata de menta

raw kale salad

escarole pie

onion pie with anchovies and black olives

bucatini with ramp pesto

fried baby artichokes with lemon and sea salt inspired by the artichokes at Maiolino

maple cheesecake

and a beautiful cake from Fortunato Brothers 

guests brought Lambrusco and various other wines and drinks!

recipes to come.

gastrophile/ noun.

One who loves good eating and plenty of it.

 photo of IO at window, bottom group middle right, Paola Ammbrosi de Magistris

Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved

a moustached chicken.

 

 This morning we made an Easter breakfast of hard boiled eggs, organic brown, Araucana, and pheasant.

It was a beautiful palette; no dye involved.

Note... the Araucana chicken, often confused with the Easter egg chicken, has a of couple distinguishing features...

They lay blue eggs, and they have feather tufts spouting out near their tiny ears giving them a decidedly Brooklyn  moustached  look!

Give this chicken a ten speed and you might see him riding down Bedford...

Happy Easter.

  

Marlow (again)

Last night I had the most delicious hand cut pasta with a smokey pancetta and tomato sauce (with a little kick) at Marlow and Sons in Williamsburg. Marlow is my go-to staple, so it will appear here quite often! We shared the pasta, a baby kale salad with a fried farm fresh egg dressed with lemon and olive oil, sour dough croutons and a shaving of parmesan. We also shared a crostini with ramp cream cheese and poached rhubarb and salad of mustard greens with shaved fennel and red onion... (Unfortunately there is no photo because we just ate it up so quickly!) It was the perfect comfort food for a chilly spring evening. 

Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved