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Posts about Locally-produced food
Lenny Russo named to American Chef Corps
Posted by: Lee Svitak Dean Updated: March 29, 2013 - 4:36 PM
Call him the ambassador of Minnesota cooking.
Lenny Russo, chef/owner of Heartland Restaurant & Farm Direct Market in St. Paul, has been named to the elite American Chef Corps, a culinary partnership with the U.S. State Department, its protocol office and the James Beard Foundation.
The corps links chefs to embassies and foreign audiences where they showcase American culinary traditions and foods. The roster of the chef corps reads like a Who's Who of the culinary world: Jose Andres, Dan Barber, Rick Bayless, John Besh, Cris Comerford (White House chef), Sam Kass (Michelle Obama's food policy advisor), Marcus Samuelsson, and many more.
Last fall when the program was announced in Washington, D.C., then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said via video: "Sharing a meal can help people transcend boundaries and build bridges in a way that nothing else can. Some of the most meaningful conversations I've had with my counterparts around the world have taken place over lunch and dinner."
Lenny's first mission -- which he has clearly accepted, since he's already in Slovenia with many bags of wild rice -- is to showcase Minnesota foods at the U.S. Embassy during his two-week stint in the country. Chef Cassie Parsons of Harvest Moon Grille in Charlotte, N.C., will finish up the monthlong American immersion there. The two will cook at the embassy and travel throughout Slovenia to learn about the traditional ingredients, dishes and preparations (he in the west, she in the east). Felina Films will follow them and produce an eight-episode TV series for Slovenia called "Seasoned by Americans." Much of their travel will be in villages were tourism is uncommon.
The U.S. Embassy in the capitol of Ljubljana, Slovenia, is using a grant from the state department's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs to fund this effort. This is the first time chefs have been sent overseas under this arts program. Lenny and Cassie were chosen because of their commitment and successful presentation of the farm-to-table philosophy of food. "We wanted chefs who were passionate about what they did, but whose vision and philosophy transcended mere business -- in other words: two progressive chefs who walked the walk," noted the embassy in a press release.
In addition to his work at Heartland, Lenny has been a three-time nominee with the James Beard Foundation and is an outspoken proponent of farm-to-table. In addition, he's active on the Food Literacy Task Force and the Minnesota's Organic Advisory Task Force.
Cassie Parsons's career has gone from farmer to owner of a small food cart in Charlotte to being named Restaurateur of the Year in 2011 by Charlotte magazine. She also is an advocate of sustainable traditional American foods.
Slovenia, a tiny country bordered by Austria, Hungary and Croatia, with Italy off to the west, has little ethnic or religious diversity. It does have some similar ingredients and styles of cooking to that found in America.
Lenny and his wife, Mega Hoehn, co-owner and general manager of Heartland, arrived in Slovenia yesterday. "We are taking the first two days to finalize the plans which at this point include truffle hunting, turbot fishing, sea salt harvesting, wine tasting, cheesemaking, prosciutto curing, a wine dinner in collaboration with Igor Jagodic, who is the young up and coming Slovenian chef of Strelec Restaurant in Ljublana Castle, and another dinner at the U.S. Embassy here," Lenny wrote in an email.
We will hear more from him as he blogs about his experiences in Slovenia. Look for his comments here later next week.
Last-minute sweet spot
Posted by: Bill Ward Updated: February 13, 2013 - 10:40 PMIf you're like me, Valentine's Day tends to sneak up on you. I usually try to trot out something like "well for us, honeybunch, every day is Valentine's Day." and my way better half is too nice to dispute the point. (I like to think she actually agrees.)
Anyway, if a certain Hallmark holiday has arrived without your having chosen a fitting wine for the evening (or any evening), I have the answer. As a bonus, you'll be pumping money into the local economy.
One of the state's best wineries, Cannon River, .produces an ice wine, and this year's rendition is delicious. With a nectar-like texture and pure-as-the-driven snow flavor, it's well worth the $40 tab. I served it recently for some fellow cork dorks, and they were mightily impressed that such a swell sweet wine came from these parts.
In a normal year, I would be able to tout a second ice wine, but Winehaven lost its crop in late 2011 because it didn't get cold enough (what a concept!). As chronicled here, Cannon River freezes a lot of its grapes indoors, which ensures that it has ice wine for the Winter Carnival.
Cannon River's ice wine has been available at about 40 outlets, and many should still have it in stock. Be SURE to call ahead, though. Besides most retail outlets in Hastings, Red Wing, Owatonna. Lake City, Cottage Grove and Rochester, it has been well distributed in the metro area: Try Haskell's, Lowry Hill, Edina and Lakeville munis,1st Grand, South Lyndale and Big Top. Again, some of these stores might be sold out, so check with them first.
It's more than worth the effort.
A valentine cake: Shades of Love
Posted by: Lee Svitak Dean Updated: February 1, 2013 - 1:54 PM
Photo by Tom Wallace
The cake that wowed readers of the Taste section last year around Valentine's Day impressed those in charge at Williams-Sonoma, too.
As part of her Baking Central monthly series, Kim Ode detailed the beautiful Shades of Love cake and its recipes (cake and frosting), developed by lifestyle expert Ross Sveback of the Twin Cities.
Now the cake is available from Williams-Sonoma for those more inclined to buy it ready-made ($99.95), prepared by Platine Bakery of Los Angeles and shipped frozen. The cake also got a shout-out in People magazine (see left).
Want to check out the cake in person? This weekend Ross will be at the Williams-Sonoma stores at the Mall of America (Saturday, 1 to 3 p.m.) and the Galleria (Sunday, 1 to 3 p.m.). No samples, but plenty of visuals.
Papaya tree mystery at the White House
Posted by: Lee Svitak Dean Updated: October 24, 2012 - 12:25 PM
At far right, the papaya tree in a pot. Photos by Lee Svitak Dean
As I was weaving in and out of the vegetables in the White House garden in September, on a tour with the Association of Food Journalists, a small tree planted in a pot caught my eye.
Like everything else in the garden, it was labeled for easy identification: "Papaya."
"How odd," I thought at the time. "A papaya tree in D.C.? Must ask why it's here."
Cris Comerford and Bill Yosses, White House chefs
Then the tour, led by White House executive chefs Cris Comerford and Bill Yosses, moved on to look at the corn and squash off in the corner. I turned my attention to a bird house on the perimeter of the garden. Could it be a bluebird house? (It was actually a security camera disguised as a bird house.) Trailing behind the chefs, distracted by the occasional bee from the nearby White House hive, I continued to snap photos and took notes and, before long, the tour was over.
Not until I was tweeting about the garden later in the day did I remember the tree. (No live tweeting is allowed on the White House grounds for security reasons.) One of my photos showed the tree in the distance. "WH garden found in corner of South Lawn, includes seeds from Thomas Jefferson plants. Papaya tree at right," I noted on Twitter.
Then a direct message on Twitter stopped me: "It's a fig tree in the WH garden BTW."
Oh no. How could I make such a mistake?
When I returned to Minneapolis, I frantically read through the "American Garden," the new book by Michelle Obama on the White House garden and the nation's community gardens, searching for a mention of papayas. There was nothing, though there's a description of a fig tree now in the White House garden that came from the seeds of a tree Thomas Jefferson planted at his home at Monticello. I searched my photographs for any other shots that could verify what I thought was the papaya tree. Again, nothing. Doubt lingered. Perhaps I did confuse a label for a fig tree with that for a papaya, though even on a distracted day that sounded uncharacteristically careless of me.
Way too out of character, in fact. I called my buddy who had accompanied me on the trip, Nancy Stohs, food editor at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, to see if she had, by chance, photographed the tree.
Photo by Nancy Stohs.
She had. The proof was in the photo. The papaya tree was not only in the garden, but it was full of fruit.
Still, why would there be a papaya tree in the garden, which otherwise featured fruits and vegetables found in nontropical gardens: pumpkins and chiles, kale, tomatoes and blueberries.There had to be a story behind the papaya.
I sent emails to Washington, D.C., where I was eventually directed to the appropriate -- but anonymous -- administrative source.
The papaya tree, in fact, has been in the White House garden since summer 2011. It was placed there in a pot -- presumably because D.C. is not a tropical climate -- because the National Park Service thought it would be "interesting to have in the garden." The park service cares for the grounds of the White House, which includes the garden. The tree is brought inside the White House during the winter.
Photo by Nancy Stohs.
In the summer of 2011, the papaya tree had many flowers but no fruit. In 2012, there was plenty of fruit, as the photograph shows.
Case closed. Life can go on. There are home-grown papayas at the White House. My reporting skills are intact.
For more on the White House garden (and the bee hive, security camera and executive chefs), read this earlier story.
The security camera is inside the birdhouse.
Making the most of heirloom tomatoes
Posted by: Rick Nelson Updated: September 4, 2012 - 9:34 AM
Locally raised heirloom tomatoes, in all their colorful glory, are pouring into farmers markets and stores, including my go-to grocer, the Seward Co-op. I'm finding it impossible to walk through the store's produce section and not buy them. That's exactly what happened to me yesterday, and when I got home I remembered a recipe from former Chet's Taverna chef (and now Three Sons Meats Co. owner) Mike Phillips, from a story published in Taste in 2003.
I made it for dinner last night (modifying it slightly, see below), and yes, it was every bit as lovely as I remembered; the tomatoes' color and flavor really shine, enhanced by a tomato-fortified vinaigrette and tons of basil. "You don't need to do a whole lot with tomatoes," is what Phillips said in the story. "They're so good on their own that you don't want to mess them up too much. Personally, I like to do what my grandma would do, which is make a tomato sandwich, just sliced tomatoes and mayonnaise on toast."
Same here. But I'll also be making this salad again in the coming weeks. It's too good to wait until next year's tomato season.
HEIRLOOM TOMATO SALAD WITH GREENS AND CROUTONS
Serves 4.
From Mike Phillips, formerly of Chet's Taverna in St. Paul.
1/4 loaf crusty bread
1 clove garlic
6 to 10 different heirloom tomatoes
1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for garnish
2 tbsp. plus 2 tsp. cider vinegar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 c. micro greens or baby greens
20 medium-size basil leaves
Directions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Break bread into bite-size pieces, place on a baking sheet and bake until lightly brown, 8 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven, cool slightly, rub with garlic and reserve.
In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, quickly sear all sides of a large tomato, charring the outside without cooking the tomato too much. Cool tomato, then core and seed and puree in a blender.
In a medium bowl, whisk tomato puree with olive oil and cider vinegar, season with salt and pepper to taste and reserve. In a large bowl, toss greens, basil, croutons and 4 to 6 tablespoons of vinaigrette and divide among four plates. Slice (or halve, or quarter) tomatoes, depending upon size, and arrange on the four plates, mixing colors and sizes. Garnish with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.
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