May 2007

I experienced a touch of nostalgia one recent morning sitting in a waiting room, paging through Architectural Digest. I came upon a picture that looked out an East Coast window into a yard very similar to the one I grew up with, birches, willows and expansive lawns--and suddenly I could smell the air, and feel the weight of it, damp with the promise of a warming, sweet-smelling day, the tender new grass and Forsythia blooms that come right after the last winter snow melts, long before the heavy, humid heat of summer arrives. Unlike here, where I associate spring with both prolific blooms everywhere and a glorious increase of fruits and vegetables in the farmers markets, my childhood images evoked no strong food memories. Unless you count frozen Birds Eye French cut green beans, and fruit that came wrapped in plastic film, staples of my youth. Once summer arrived, there was a farm stand we’d occasionally travel to for corn, and my dad grew a few tomatoes, but there was not a farmers market or even a well-stocked farm stand nearby.

Here we are so lucky, with a farmers market just about every day of the week. Right now, the markets are changing day by day, with more and more warm weather crops arriving--and they hold the promise of more to come, very soon…the cherries have just started, and we’ll have early apricots by mid-May, the peaches and nectarines by June, and then the eggplants, peppers and green beans will start to arrive--finally, we will segue towards tomatoes and melons and blueberries as the weather warms inland. Here and now, we have peas, both edible pod and sweet tender shelling types, tiny vibrantly green fava beans hiding in their giant pods, sweet lettuce, early summer squash, and plump red strawberries. Then there’s the green garlic, that springtime treasure, a delicate, willowy youth, thinned from the fields before the assertive bulb develops. I’ve stuffed a leg of lamb with it, along with fresh rosemary and parsley from the garden. Made garlic Yorkshire puddings (this month’s recipe), soup with green garlic and cauliflower, sautéed it gently with fava beans, made green garlic and cheese soufflés, and green garlic and potato gratin. The list is endless, but the green garlic is not--it’s time quickly passes, as the garlic grows and forms cloves, and becomes more assertive and intense. Now, it’s just a simple, layered bulb--like a leek with a rounded end, or a large green onion. You don’t have to peel cloves, and you can cook the tender part of the stalk, too. Try the Yorkshire pudding recipe to go along with a roast or chops for dinner--it’s subtle, yet aromatic, and a fleeting treat you will look forward to repeating, next spring.

In the News

For the last two years, I’ve done some work with Pixar on their up-coming release, Ratatouille, due in theaters June 29th, The animators come to the kitchen in groups, learning the skills and movements they needed to animate in the movie’s characters. They videotaped many of these sessions, and Paulding & Company will have a credit in the movie. What I didn’t expect, was that they would release a "Cooking 101" video on the Disney Movie website, that featured, among other things, the animators at work with me in the Kitchen. You can watch it on my website, or along with the other trailers, on Disney’s site. It’s going to be a great, fun movie--made more authentic by the extreme care their entire staff took to make the cooking scenes authentic.

Event

On Sunday, May 20th, the local Slow Food chapter is having an interesting event at the kitchen. Vietnamese Transformations of Rice--An evening of hands-on cooking to learn how Vietnamese cooks manipulate the grain into a multitude of forms. See the complete description on the calendar, it will be a packed evening of great food and learning experiences, at a reasonable cost ($50 members, $60 non-members). You can follow the links to the websites of both teachers for this event--they are wonderful sites, as both besides being skilled Vietnamese chefs, are also food writers (and Andrea a published cookbook author), and the sites are very interesting and informative.

Classes

The biggest news in classes at the Kitchen is the upcoming summer program for aspiring chefs and avid home cooks--six separate five-day sessions with two high-powered chefs, countless cooking secrets, and ample enjoyment. There will be three one-week sessions of Culinary Trends & Classical Techniques, and three of Global Cuisine. Sessions will feature excursions, guest speakers--and lots of hands-on cooking. This is an adventure worthy of being your vacation destination--and unlike the people who will come from afar to attend, you can have it without the travel and hotel bills. Check it out, the classes are listed on our calendar, or go directly to www.lckitchen.com for complete information and registration forms. Linda Carucci and Cindy Race, the two teachers, are a dynamic duo with many years of high-powered experience. Linda is author of the critically acclaimed book Cooking School Secrets for Real World Cooks (Chronicle Books, 2005) . And, of interest to all of you perhaps--there are two slots in each session for assistants, at a deep discount from the normal rate.

My Spring Basic Cooking group is having a great time in the kitchen as well--we’ve concentrated on making great food together, with a consciousness of learning many cooking and preparation techniques, proper knife skills, and of course, having plenty of fun. Menus have ranged from the simple and every-day (meatloaf & mashed potatoes) to company fare (Alaskan halibut poached in saffron fish fumet with aioli croutons). Every quarter, students get an intensive, seasonal cooking experience, and come away with knowledge that influences their eating habits for a lifetime. The summer session starts on June 20th and runs through to August 1st (we skip over the 4th of July). You will have a great Wednesday night every time, if you sign up for this class. Registration at Piedmont Adult School starts the 4th of June, and you won’t see the class in their catalog until that date.

Rosetta Costantino is taking a bit of a breather from teaching, to finish her book and spend time with her kids this summer, but there may still be a few spots in her June 8th Ricotta class--where you will get to learn how to make ricotta from scratch, and use it in every course of a meal.

Our Knife Sharpening class returns June 18th, a Monday evening session. This short (2 hour) inexpensive ($60 including a sharpening stone & oil) session is very informative. You get to bring your own knives, learn how to hone them to perfection--and if you have been trying to cook with dull knives, you know how important that is! Eric E. Weiss, our teacher, sharpens for myriad restaurants in the area including Chez Panisse--you will be learning from the best.

Featuring the Rehearsal Dinner

I’ve talked many times about the advantages of bringing your work group into the kitchen for a team building session--but wedding season is upon us, and I thought I’d talk a bit about rehearsal dinners. Normally, they are somewhat static affairs, a sit-down restaurant dinner where you get to meet the new extended family--in reality, the people to the right and left of you, plus one or two across the table if it’s not too noisy in the restaurant.

At Paulding & Company, we bring new meaning to the event. By cooking the meal together with your "new" family, you really do get to know one another in ways you can’t, sitting in a restaurant. Cooking together shifts the focus just enough to de-stresses the meeting, allowing the level of comfort to grow as you share the task of creating a family meal, then enjoying it together. It must work well, because we are booking more of these great events--and because the feedback we get from our clients is so positive. If you have a family member getting married in the near (or distant) future, do think of Paulding & Company for the rehearsal!

In the meantime, enjoy the springtime--and support the farmers that make the Bay Area so special, by shopping at your local farmers market. You’ll enjoy the outing, and the fresh food. If you have no time to do so, many farmers participate in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, where you can order a weekly box from your favorite farm. Go to localharvest.org, and look at all your options!