Take It From the Dames ~ This is a Cookbook You Must Have ~ Recipes from Top Women in the Food & Wine World

Today is the day!

It’s the launch of Stirring the Pot, the first-ever cookbook created by Les Dames d’Escoffier. Can you believe that?!

The book will go on sale, September 18 – and will entirely benefit the LDNY scholarship fund.

Les Dames d' Escoffier New York, the most influential and accomplished women in the food and wine world, present their favorite recipes for everything from simple weekday meals to spectacular party dishes.

The Best Father's Day Gift: "Alive & Cooking" Cookbook - Healthy & Delicious Homegrown Recipes made with Local Ingredients & Love

“It was with love for my father that I became obsessed with cooking and recipes,” wrote Alive & Cooking cookbook co-author Maryann De Leo.

It’s an era of unlimited gift possibilities For Dad, (close to 80 million hits via a Google Search for Father’s Day Gift Guides and what to buy for Dad)

There’s tech toys, manly BBQ equipment, and surfer dude shorts…

Tie jokes are a perennial Father’s Day gift cliché.

Why it’s portrayed as anything of a challenge to choose a gift to celebrate a Father – every child’s hero  - is a complete mystery.

In fact, knowing that Dads will buy something on their own if they really want it – the best Father’s Day gift is an obvious one: your time and love.

And what better way to share some quality time than cooking for Dad?

Shared shopping, meal prep, cooking, enjoying some great local wine or craft beer all through to the dining and sit down meal, is a surefire way to bring together food, drink, and fun. 

And kindle homegrown memories for a lifetime and generations to come.

Don’t know what to cook?

The answer lies in a cookbook.

Alive & Cooking: An Easy Guide to Health for You and Your Parents

This book is the perfect Father’s Day gift to be used as a lifestyle guide to good, healthy living AND as a cookbook brimming with family heritage recipes. 

Pick any of the hundreds of food and drink recipes to make together on Father’s Day.
And every day. 

Curated recipes from the authors’ family are so named for the mother, aunt, uncle, son or daughter who passed down or created the recipes.

These monogrammed recipes are charming and delicious: e.g. Helen’s Grilled Salmon, Junia’s Beef Stroganoff.

Who wouldn’t love Grandma Violet Terranova’s Fried Chicken? 

Violet claims she invented “Shake and Bake!” 

Then there’s Amanda’s Mexican Salad recipe and Gibbons’ Guajillo Chili, co-author Addison’s son  - who developed this recipe while in law school.

All the recipes make the Alive & Cooking cookbook feel like a sophisticated and informed version of a traditional church or community cookbook.

Written with deep-felt love as an homage to the authors’ fathers and family, the book fairly percolates not only with valuable, expert nutrition information (why cinnamon is key, or how detox cleaning is good, and did you know plums support the liver because they are rich in Vitamin A, iron, copper, zinc and fiber and can lower cholesterol, and plants "are masters at cleaning certain toxins from the air" and boost happier, more positive attitude) but also offers delicious, good-for-you recipes and practical, hands on tips.

One can’t help feeling you’re listening to a grandmother or friend describing the recipes -- as in, “Do not frost until cake is cold”), as well as the family food stories that will inspire and reward the reader for a lifetime.

I challenge anyone to not get a tad weepy -- and cooking motivated - reading the chapter “The Manicotti Lesson” that, not surprisingly, reads like a screenplay - and is all about making artful, family food connections. 

The Manicotti chapter boasts opera, the Beatles, Mother Dorothea singing, and her family’s culinary stories and cooking lessons on making manicotti with three cheeses inside shells.

How pretty that pasta comes in so many nature-inspired shapes, no?!

If for no other reason, buy Alive & Cooking for Dotty’s Manicotti.

It is a classic example of what makes this cookbook extraordinary. 

The recipe is a detailed, tour de force family heritage recipe the Food Network would promote like crazy.  
The food memoir head notes alone are fascinating short story. 

But wait, there’s Dotty’s Potatoes and Green Beans.

And Dotty’s Stuffed Artichokes. 

And more.

Clearly, there needs to be a Dotty Cookbook, I think you will agree.

For anyone who fails to see how the rather prickly, pointed artichoke could possibly be anything more than still art, (not to put too fine a point on it but art IS part of this edible beauty’s moniker.) there is Dotty’s easy to make, delicious artichoke recipe.

Dotty’s Stuffed Artichoke recipe will change your palate.

Ingredients:

4 large artichokes

2 c. Italian bread crumbs

1/3 c. tablespoons Locatelli cheese, grated

3 cloves garlic, minced

½ c. fresh parsley, washed well, dried, and chopped

1 8-oz. can plum tomatoes

Directions:

1.     Cut off any brown parts from artichokes

2.     Wash artichokes and dry well

3.     Trim artichokes so that they sit flat in pot

4.     Mix breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic, parsley, and enough tomato to moisten the stuffing so that holds together.

5.     Gently separate and pull apart artichoke.  (Don’t break off the leaves. The artichoke will be whole when it’s cooking.)

6.     Stuff each artichoke leaf with approximately 1 T. stuffing

7.     Site artichokes in the pot with a little water and a little tomato to steam

8.     Steam approximately 45 minutes

Variations: Use any grated cheese, Maryann’s family likes Locatelli.  She writes: (My parents had an ongoing debate about whether Locatelli was a region, a brand name, or a type of cheese. I don't remember if there was a winner.

Note: The tomatoes make the stuffing moist and hold it together. 

Serving size: 4 servings.

This cookbook is a food “hat trick”  (sorry, Ranger fans) that combines food stories and health and nutrition recommendations, along with recipes and tips.

For example, the Recipe chapter launches with this wise admonishment: “One of the most important instructions for preparing food is to taste it as you are cooking.  Adjust salt, pepper, spices, herbs, liquids, and ingredients as needed.”

Cooks and bakers note: Be fearless. Be bold.  

And break some rules. Recipes and menus are not tied to the clock.

De Leo writes: “Lunch can be the main meal of the day.  Often at mid-day my father had the best appetite and he could eat a big meal.”

In an excerpt from the Alive & Cooking cookbook. De Leo offers a love note / head note for this sweet recipe that clearly delighted her father who was then battling emphysema.

Recipe for Brie And Chocolate Sandwich

To make this easier for my (Maryann’s) Dad to eat, I cut it with scissors into small pieces. When I went to see if he liked it, there were hints of chocolate at the corners of his mouth and the plate was empty

Ingredients:

2 slices bread, whole grain, baguette or sourdough

Sliced Brie cheese (enough to cover a piece of bread

2 T. bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1.     Toast bread lightly in a pan (No butter is necessary)

2.     Place slices of Brie on one side of the bread.

3.     Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.

4.     Place the other bread slice on top, and place the sandwich in a pan.

5.     Grill, pressing down and cooking until brown on both sides.

Serving size: 1

What makes this a special Father’s Day gift is the spirit of fatherly adoration and love that fills the book. 

In the Acknowledgements, De Leo sets the table for the reader: "Inspiration has come from my father many times… This cookbook, too, was inspired by my father. I wrote it for him and to him and I know he’d be happy to have me share what I learned with many others.”

Cooking is empowering.

With subtle authority, the book seamlessly and joyfully makes the connections to cooking, nutrition, health, food and family, especially to our revered elders: parents and caregivers.

The two authors are passionate about those connections and the forces that circle out to family, community, and beyond. 

Maryann is an Academy Award–winning filmmaker for The Chernobyl Heart.

Her latest film was nominated for a Golden Bear at the Berlinale in Berlin, Germany. She is a teacher at the School of Visual Arts, a UN representative for the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom, and a home cook.

Nancy Gibbons Addison is the author of How to Be a Healthy Vegetarian

A Board–Certified health practitioner with the American Association of Drugless Practitioner, certified by eCornell University in plant-based nutrition and is certified for Basic Intensive n Health-Supportive Cooking at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Health in NYC, among many other accreditations.

  

The authors’ personal stories and narratives are love stories – for their fathers – for their family, and their love of food

“It was the love for my father that I became obsessed with cooking and recipes,” wrote Maryann.

She describes how she and her family changed his recipes and the quality of food and her father’s health problems disappeared.  He was able to regain ten pounds; his doctor calling him “miracle man.”

The book describes how the authors came by their passion for delicious, healthy food, fueled by homegrown ingredients. 

Not surprisingly, Maryann’s father, Dominic tended a garden.  Her mother, Dorothea, tended the heart of the home – the kitchen.  

Who needs anything else to build a happy, healthy home?

“Highest quality food is the best”, notes Addison.

Grandmother De Leo passed this on to future generations long before it became trendy with today’s locavore chefs:  “Cook with the best quality ingredients you can find; that is what makes the best dish.”

So, take Dad to shop ingredients at a local farmers market. 

Karen Seiger’s Markets Of New York Father's Day Picks recommends fabulous, curated markets and maker finds.

I was so very honored to have been asked by my talented cousin Maryann to write the Foreword for Alive & Cooking: An Easy Guide to Health for You and Your Parents. 

Here is the tribute to the book’s mission to feed our bodies, our souls, and our families.
Rereading the Foreward for this Father's Day tribute, I am happy that it captures the essence of this important book.

Food is love.

Embraced by the earth, caressed by the sun, and kissed by the rain, nature respectfully shares her passions with us. 

Food is art  

The art of food fuels our imagination and creativity.  We create homes, traditions, culinary triumphs and comfort through our interpretation of food’s ingredients, preparation and presentation.  There is the saying, “The eyes eat first” with the food beguiling our sense of sight – flirting with us before seducing our other senses of smell, touch and ultimately, taste. What other art form takes hold of us so? Food is powerful. But it is also markedly tender, nurturing and sincere.

Food is a metaphor.

It is a tool, a weapon, a constant garden where love is growing, waiting to be shared. To be served, given away with abandon.

Food is a journey. 

It takes us to distant countries and far-away places. It takes us across time and generations.  Food penetrates our hearts. And our memories.  It is a passport to other cultures; a portal to our own unique past.

This book is transporting. 

It reveals -- or rips back the cover on the extraordinary connection to our families; our selves. 

You could say the food stories and nutritious recipes are lessons. 

Reading them, it’s almost as if our lives depended on it. 

It does.

The food chronicles here reveal an intimacy that can only be found in family heritage cuisines that are deeply and genuinely experienced: over generations, over the dinner table, over a lifetime of cheers’, salutes’, and amen’s. Our happiest, fondest memories are over celebrations of food and family. Big holidays and achievements. Romantic interludes. And quiet, tender, heartbreaking, private tributes.

My series’ of Homegrown books and writings explores the connection of master chefs to their inspired growers: the vegetable, duck and honey farmers, oyster growers and fishermen.  My talented, sensitive artist cousin, Maryann – and her co-author Nancy -  have taken this concept of eating inspired local food to the next level. Naturally.   While the concept of the book was sparked out of heartbreak and loss, let there be no doubt the book is one of enduring hope and love.

What could be more intimate and inspired than preparing nutritious, delicious food for family?  Time spent talking and working in the kitchen. Meals shared. Traditions and heritage passed on in the glow of serving home cooked meals with full plates and brimming glasses.

The recipes here are natural, healthy, organic and prepared with sustainable ingredients. of course. 

You will be inspired to cook them because each of the family recipes – our family – have been tested by time – and love.  And in the end, they are truly the best ingredients.  

Enjoy.  Cheers to family – and food!

The Horticultural Society of New York Hosted a Glamorous Affair for “The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook” Premiere

It was, among other superlatives, a delicious success.

Pick any evening in New York City and it’s a sure-fire bet there are dozens of top-tier happenings all over town.

Thursday June 14^th was no exception. 

There was a Chase Bank 5K race in Central Park.

My Metro Hort association had rescheduled their tour of the NYBG Monet Garden to the same night.  Really, what are the chances?

President Obama and First Lady, Michelle were holding court at a fundraiser hosted by Vogue's Anna Wintour and Sarah Jessica Parker – for a dinner at SJP’s West Village home – not too far from our building.  (Shhhh...  As an aside, word here is she and husband Matthew Broderick tried for years to buy in our building, but management at that time was “afraid” stars would bring the paparazzi.  Too bad, they are such nice family people. And true New Yorkers, too.)

The Board here has since given up that “discriminatory” policy and we can quietly boast more than a few artists as building mates, though Julia Roberts flew the coop/co-op.

Enough sidebar scoops.

Just enough so you see what rigorous opportunities peek out from more than a few corners in Gotham.

Further, how tough was it to get a taxi uptown?  Impossible. After far too many minutes, the doorman hailed a yellow hack and I had to beg the off-duty cabbie to get us to The Hort in time. 

See, the thing is, not unlike SJP’s Carrie Bradshaw on-screen character, I am a writer. 

So not like her, I write about food, gardens and restaurants, farmers markets, artisanal food making...

But there was a certain karma-like parallelism in the calendar that night. 

And the fact that I was able to nab this cab – was a made-for-TV moment.

The hack driver spirited us uptown in no time, making up for my last minute script rewrites/cuts, and an all-too-short practice run-through.  

And then, just like that, we were getting off the elevator at The Horticultural Society of New York to be greeted at the elevator by none other than George Pisegna, Director of Horticulture at The Hort.  George is an enthusiastic advocate for The Hort’s mission to sustain the vital connection between people and plants; moreover, he is a garden hero.

He was happy and enthusiastic to see us and elated about the attendance for the evening.

Therefore, I was too. 

Foody's chef Bryan Futerman setting up at The Hort for The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook reading

Already setting up was chef Bryan Futerman, Foody's Restaurant and Cafe Facebook page, Water Mill, and a featured Homegrown chef from the book.   

It seemed natural that chef Bryan and his inspired grower, Jon Snow, from the Hayground School would have traveled to Gotham together. 

There, leafing through the Homegrown Cookbook and smiling as we entered, was the inimitable garden sprite, Master Gardener, children’s garden mentor, and artist, Jon Snow. 

Later, during the presentation, we would learn in a personal, almost poetic prose, how he works with the children – and the plants – to weave a magical relationship with the natural world.  The kids get their hands in the dirt, grow food and learn to cook through the “Young Chefs Program” – designed by another featured Homegrown Cookbook chef: Joe Realmuto from Nick And Toni's restaurant, who created a program that was long a dream of the restaurant’s late owner, Jeff Salaway.   That dream – “to bring together kids, chefs, and food in the spirit of community” is a true success.

And not unlike an aim of the Homegrown Cookbook.

The program and the children’s garden is delightful.

Soon, Chef Tom Schaudel arrived, his food larder in tow in what looked like an oversized mobile cooler. 

Chef Tom Schaudel, CoolFish, sets up for culinary creation at The Hort

He’s done this before. 

Chef Tom is an experienced, much-loved Homegrown Long Island chef.  Chef Tom Schaudel Restaurants

He presides over a virtual empire of restaurants, strung across the Island like jewels on an heirloom necklace.

In fact, he owns Jewel (!) – his Melville restaurant – and CoolFish, A Mano, Alure, and, along with his daughter, Ross Schaudel Catering.  Schaudel has also authored the highly popular book, "Playing with Fire: Whining & Dining on the Gold Coast"

Fans of the chefs arrived early to meet 

Arriving from an account meeting downtown, Kareem Massoud, Paumanok Vineyards' grape farmer and vintner – and inspired grower to Chef Tom Schaudel as written in the Homegrown Cookbook, bringing two of his family’s estate wines: a Rose and a Chenin Blanc. Both were rich, nuanced, and tasty partners to the evening’s recipes, and very popular with the Hort’s guests, too.

Chef Tom and Bryan made a recipe – or two – from the four recipes every one of the 27 chefs graciously and lovingly provided for the Homegrown Cookbook.

With a large Hort audience of food and drink fans eager for Homegrown food and food stories, the guests were soon asked to take their seats.

With lots of beautiful images of the natural landscapes of Long Island and the behind-the-scene photos of the farms, gardens, waterways, honey and duck growers, oyster and berry farmers, I told the story of the making of The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook (a coffee table, hardcover cookbook, also available at B&N and now at bookstores) and the larger, food story that evolved in the world surrounding the writing of the book: from Slow Foods to urban farming to the resurgence in Farmer’s Markets and edible home gardening, including the White House’s edible garden. I noted the First Lady is also doing a book tour for her just published book, American Grown.

I also read excerpts from the Homegrown book from the profiles of chefs Tom Schaudel and his inspiring grower partner, Kareem; and Chef Bryan Futerman and his inspiring garden partner, Jon Snow.  

Jon Snow, Hayground School at The Hort

Growers Kareem and Jon spoke about their successful gardening and farming on Long Island.  Noteworthy was the Hayground children’s gardener, Jon, commenting that his 91-year old Mother commented he was a success at long last, because he was speaking at The Horticultural Society of New York!  

Kareem Massoud, Paumanok Vineyards

And speaking of matriarchs, Kareem shared how his mother had a biblical quote framed in their kitchen admonishing, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.”  Clearly, his mother – and family -- recognized a higher authority to a lifetime of honored labor was calling them.  It shows.  

Following the talk, the guests were led back to the area for the chefs’ food and drink demo highlight part of the evening’s program.

With nothing more than a burner –the chefs made their four-star recipes right at the lovely tables – complete with sweet, picture-perfect pot of herbs growing in tiny wash bins -- set by The Hort.

The Homegrown chefs had the attention of everyone around their individual tables, allowing for interaction with the foodie fans, which were again sipping the crisp, bright flavors of the local Paumanok wines.

Local wine – and beer – naturally pairs better with the food made from the local terroir and sea. 

Just try a Paumanok Chenin Blanc local wine, for example, with oyster farmer, Karen Rivera’s Peconic Pearls – also featured in the Homegrown Cookbook.

Truly, heavenly. 

The two Homegrown chefs wielded their magical alchemy to tease out extraordinary flavors to a delighted audience. They had them crying with gastronomic joy at their creative, distinctive Long Island cuisine.

Chef Tom made his over-the-top Up-Island Lobster Risotto with corn, Heirloom tomato, and basil.  So simple yet so complex and a no-doubt-about-it crazy delicious, with a visual impact too.  Savoring the Up-Island Lobster Risotto is a sensory experience.

The Recipe can be found on page 123 of the Homegrown Cookbook.

Chef Bryan would have made his famous pizza with local vegetables and dough made with fresh, local honey – I am not kidding – but without the wood-burning oven, guests would’ve been shortchanged.  (Gotta get Kalamazoo to donate an oven to the Hort, don’t you think?)

Instead, chef Bryan opted to whip up the Cherry Wood-Smoked Brisket recipe found on page 40.  Again, a few simple, local ingredients, but the end result had guests shaking their heads in culinary wonderment. The meat was melt-in-your-mouth tender but Rocky-strong in its integrity as a star ingredient.

To add to the standout taste, Chef Bryan served the brisket on dark bread infused with sauerkraut (I am not making this up!) with a smoky thousand islandish dressing and a spicy tomato.  

Foody's Watermelon-Red Pepper Gazpacho

Speaking of tomatoes, there are none in chef Bryan’s Watermelon-Red Pepper Gazpacho. For extra credit, Chef Bryan also made the delightful twist on a summer classic – found on page 41 of the Homegrown Cookbook.  

The cool, sweet watermelon flirts with the spicy hot jalapeno right in front of all the others, er, the other locally grown veggies, including onions, celery and peppers.

A perfect appetizer served in small cups for a BBQ or dinner party. Or a main course for an easy-to-make family meal.  It’s sweet and smoky. Dial the flavors up or down…

Book signings accompanied the food tastings.  It was a sell out!  Food and Hort friends from New York, California, North Carolina and the Garden State were there and recognized the Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown lifestyle as featured in the book is one they admire and can cook up at their own home, wherever that may be.

Jennifer Calais Smith (L) & Homegrown author, Leeann Lavin

George Pisegna adds Homegrown to The Hort's Library

George from The Hort honored this author and the Homegrown chefs and their inspired growers by purchasing some books to give as a gift to some key Hort supporters.  Shhh. It’s our secret until they take the wraps off their “Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook!”  

And words can’t express how honored I was to sign a book for The Horticultural Society of New York’s illustrious library.  A dream come true…

Thank you.

Cheers to a Homegrown life.  

Homegrown Chefs & Growers at The Hort for FREE Book Reading, Food & Drink Event

Author and Examiner.com Food & Drink editor, Leeann Lavin tells the good-food stories of farmers who rise before the roosters to bring fresh produce, meats, cheeses, honey, and seafood to these local chefs and area farmers’ markets. She profiles Long Island’s best pasture-to-plate chefs who kick off the day with an early trip to the markets & local growers and wrap it up in the wee hours of the night, after feeding legions of appreciative diners. The food stories are lovingly told—exploring the work and passion of the chefs and the local food artisans, farmers, and fisherman—who together, are dedicated to connecting to the land to produce menus that boast delicious homegrown flavors. The book offers a rare and intimate tour of the kitchens and gardens that create local, seasonal food.

Brimming with food stories from the region’s best real-food chefs and the growers who inspire their homegrown menus, more than 80 tempting recipes, and stunning photographs of the iconic dishes, authentic & sustainable ingredients, and the majestic land and seascapes that are the romantic hallmarks of the area’s food culture. Two chefs featured in The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook

  and the growers who inspire their homegrown recipes will join Leeann to demonstrate their masterful cooking using local, fresh ingredients. Tastings too!

These chefs are Chef Tom Schaudel, CoolFish Grille and Wine Bar Chef Tom Schaudel restaurants 

Chef Tom Schaudel, CoolFish restaurant prepares his lobster risotto at the Hort tonight

(and several other restaurants), 

Chef Bryan Futerman, Foody's Restaurant & Cafe cooks at the Hort

and Chef Bryan Futerman, Foody's Facebook  

The chefs will cook up a recipe featured in the Homegrown Cookbook, using fresh, local ingredients.

Joining the chefs and this Examiner/author at The Hort are the growers who most inspire the chefs and are featured in the book.

Vintner and owner of Aquebogue’s Paumanok Vineyards, Kareem Moussad will talk about growing grapes, making award-winning wine and managing a world-class vineyard on Long Island.  And will bring some outstanding wine to taste too!

Featured vintner & winemaker, Kareem Moussad, Paumonok Vineyards will discuss growing grapes on LI at the Hort (and wine tasting, too!)

Jon Snow, Master Gardener, The Hayground School, Bridgehampton

Jon Snow, Master Gardener and co-founder of The Hayground School and Camp in Bridgehampton will talk about his passion for the Children’s Garden there and teaching kids to get their hands in the soil, to grow food and create a lifetime of better nutrition and diet. 

The Food and Drink event at The Horticultural Society of New York is a fun, free and fascinating must-attend foodie event: http://tiny.cc/7gisfw

See you at The Hort! 

Doors open at 6pm; talk starts at 6:30pm

Free

RSVP to info@thehort.org

Explore the special relationship between a chef and grower....