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....

Tonight is the Official Launch of The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook at 92st Y!

Tonight will be considered the official launch of my book: The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook.

I am speaking at the 92st Y tonight.  Joining me are Jason Weiner, executive Chef and proprietor, Almond Restaurants located in Manhattan and Bridgehampton

And Chef Deborah Pittorino, executive Chef and proprietor, Cuvee Bistro & Bar Restaurant, Greenporter Hotel

Here is the invite for the Y event: Book Talk & Lecture at 92st Y

It’s been some years -- and some tears -- to get to this place.

Now it’s happy, nail biting time!  I’m told it’s the most successful of their books in pre-order so that is a good news start! 

This evening, I will provide an overview of the book, the making of the book, explain how chefs are alchemists: taking seasonal and fresh ingredients and turn them into food magic!

There will be lots of pictures and some video.

Chefs Jason and Deborah will talk while making on of the Homegrown recipes from the Cookbook. And of course, a wee bit of tasting.  Mmmmm.

Some Q&A and then book signings! 

This should be a fun and fitting tribute to all who helped make this book – especially the chefs and artisanal food growers and creators.

Epicurean nirvana awaits! 

And it will be fun too.

I was long fascinated by the fact that gardens can inspire artists – especially the culinary artist and wanted to explore that sweet spot.

I asked each chef I selected for the book his or her personal journey to becoming a dedicated Homegrown chef.

And I also asked the chef what grower inspired them the most and influenced their cuisine.

I can’t wait for you all to get your copy and rapturously read the chefs' and growers’ food stories. 

I hope it will inspire you.

A sneak peek inside the drop-dead gorgeous book, thanks to Mother Nature, the growers and the amazing work of the book’s photographers, Lindsay Morris and Jennifer Calais Smith.

The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook

Long before the island became the wealthy vacation mecca it is now, the native Shinnecock Indian tribe hunted, fished, and farmed on Long Island and taught the first European settlers how to do so—growing beans, foraging for wild plants, and using fish for fertilizer.

Farming became the island’s first industry. Today, potato pastures may have given way to orchards and vineyards, and dairy and goat farms may have replaced the heritage duck’s grass fields, but Long Island is still recognized as the most productive farming area in New York State.

The Island’s tableau and its cultural heritage of homegrown agriculture have inspired a cadre of ingredients-minded master chefs who possess a reverence for their local food source. They have studied and cooked in renowned four-star restaurants across the island, from the Gold Coast to Hampton Bays, and all over the world. Regardless of whether the chefs relocated to discover the charms of the island or left briefly to pursue the siren song of culinary education elsewhere, or couldn’t ever bear to leave, all feel the yearning for their terroir: Long Island.

The Hamptons and Long Island Homegrown Cookbook pays tribute to the remarkable, authentic farms, gardens, vineyards, and waterways that are Long Island. It also honors those chefs who are bringing Long Island’s unique homegrown harvest to food-obsessed plates and palates and, in the process, helping the island’s growers and food artisans preserve a precious way of life. Through their ardent beliefs, tenacity, and commitment to their craft and distinctive local cuisine, the chefs featured here have demonstrated a fidelity to the amazingly good, farm-forward Long Island cuisine.

Oh and I have made a Facebook page for the book.  Doesn't seem so seamless, but you can get there and Like it. Who wouldn't?!

Thank you.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Hamptons-Long-Island-Homegrown-Cookbook/243786535729628?ref=tn_tnmn

How Does a Chef Do Science? - 92nd Street Y - New York, NY

How Does a Chef Do Science? - 92nd Street Y - New York, NY

This is the link to my first lecture for my book, "The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook" at the very prestigious 92nd Street Y!

Can you believe it?

Girls Night Out At Sickles Market

I will be the Garden Expert and Author featured at Sickles Market Second Annual Girls Night Out!  

This is a joyful, fun, educational girl friendly evening that is a benefit for the Jacqueline M. Wilentz Comprehensive Breast Center at Monmouth Medical Center.

The women who attend are amazing: so eager and keen to support their community. And to learn about wellness and gardens and food and -- to kick up their kitten heels and have a good time too.

I am honored to have been asked to return to participate in this extraordinary event.  

Thank you, Bob and Tori Sickles and Karen Irvine. 

Sickles Market is unmatched for food, entertaining objects and party items, and garden plants and objets of art.  I am all too often there buying unique plants for my garden clients, including topiary and herbs and container pots.  The cheeses and farm fresh food are too tempting and I am seduced more times than I can count.  I wrote in the Introduction to my first book, "Homegrown Long Island" how I had scooted over to get my buffalo mozzarella one Saturday only to be told by the cheesemonger that she'd sold the last one.  I sighed (or was it screetched??) to high heaven, whereupon she admonished, "You have to fight for your food!"  I was stopped dead in my high drama.  It is true.  Good food is worth going to the mat for.  And Sickles is THE place.  

I learned my lesson.

I write about food and drink for Examiner.com and also on my blogs: Garden Glamour and Master Chefs and Their Gardens (http://celebritychefsandtheirgardens.blogspot.com).  There is just too much news about the edible landscape and homegrown food and food issues and gardens -- so I Twitter with both Chefsgardens and GardenGlamour too!

I am completing the Homegrown Long Island cookbook and will be talking about the inspired gardens that help the "Field to Table" and "Fin to Fork" Chefs I selected for the book create delicious recipes that are made from fresh, succulent, just picked and just caught fish.  

The book is an intimate profile of each chef - 28 chefs in all.  The book also includes four exciting, seasonal, locavore recipes from each chef, drop-dead luscious color photos of the chefs in the kitchen, of the plated food, and of the chefs with their farmers or in their gardens. I render their gardens in a garden design water color and provide a plant list for every garden and farm, too.  It's an informative cookbook you can use in the kitchen, in the garden -- and display on the coffee table!

For Girls Night Out, I will be signing the two Caroline Seebohm books that feature my garden designs and input:  Cottages and Mansions of the Jersey Shore                 

It’s always a thrill to open this gorgeous book and see all the great houses and gardens, especially my two garden designs:  Joe DiMattina -- and now Uncle Bob :) in Atlantic Highlands; and Mary Rogowski in Monmouth Beach. Two beautiful, enduring gardens that get better every year

And Great Houses and Gardens of New Jersey   

I will also provide a handout for the goody bags :) with four recipes from some of my female chefs featured in the book - a sneak peak!  shhhh...

In addition, I have put together a list of some of my favorite plants to inspire seasonal garden designs.  All blue-ribbon beauties. 

The award-winning Sickles Market is on Facebook and Twitter ad on the web at http://shop.sicklesmarket.com/ 

Menu

Appetizers

Alexian Pâtés & Terrines

  

 Crab Cakes with Chipotle Aioli

 Mini Shrimp Cocktail

 Grilled Petit Filet with Tzatziki

 Black Bean Fritters with Guacamole

 White Bean & Spinach Quesadillas

 Braised Shitake & Leek Crostini

 Smoked Salmon Blini with Crème Frâiché

Vegetable Ratatouille

Cheese

  A Selection of Fine Cheese & Accompaniments 

Brebirousse D'Argental

France Sheep

Accompanied by

ChocoLove Cherries & Almonds in Dark Chocolate

Parmigiano Reggiano

Italy Raw Cow

Accompanied by

Pink Moscatel Grapes

Point Reyes Farmstead Blue

California  Raw Cow

Accompanied by

Herbertsville Honey Co. Walnuts in Honey

Montchevré

Wisconsin     Goat

Accompanied by

Fourth Creek Sweet Red Pepper Relish

Dessert

Sickles' Own Cakepops

Vanilla & chocolate cake dipped in white chocolate

Daisy Chocolates

A mix of chocolate pretzels and cookies

Wine Bar Provided by Rumson Wine & Spirits

Services, Door Prizes, Giveaways, and Treats from:

 Milagro Spa at The Atlantic Club

Mini facials, mini massages, mini makeovers

Leeann Lavin, Garden Expert & Author

Tips on gardening & landscape design

Brad Wolff, Ph.D., P.A. and Certified Life Coach

Relaxation demos & tools for "living your best life"

Salon Concrete

Hair care secrets

Elizabeth Ebner, M.S., R.D. 

Medical Nutrition Therapy

New Balance Shrewsbury

New Spring collection

Switchflops by Lindsay Phillips

Spring trends in fashion footwear

Halia Fashion Jewelry

Latest looks in "add-on" jewelry

Jacqueline M. Wilentz Comprehensive Breast Center

Health assessment checklist

Sickles Market

Fresh herb tasting & tips for growing

Flipping Fun

Photobook favors

6 Degrees of Celebration, LLC.

Fabulous Door Prize

________________________________________________

Many thanks for supporting the Jacqueline M. Wilentz Comprehensive Breast Center at Monmouth Medical Center.

We'll see you Friday, March 18th!

Could Mulch Be Any Sexier? Or Nuttier?

There are few if any things more elegant and distinctive than a hazelnut.

And perhaps none more mysterious.

Sure, if prompted, most of us can identify the flavor hazelnut when paired with oh, let’s say, chocolate. 

Then there is the European-influenced spread, Nutella

And I’ve always put them out with mixed nuts at Thanksgiving.  Nothing solo.

But how many can identify a hazelnut as a biennial with their frilly, gorgeous caramel-coat clusters that look like a fancy collar Tilda Swinton could regally pull off wearing? 

Not me.  Not until I was walking in Chef Keith Luce’s brand new potager kitchen garden behind his newly restored and reopened, Jedediah Hawkins Inn in Jamesport, Long Island.  (www.jedediahhawkinsinn.com)

Chef Keith is a celebrated master chef in my upcoming book, “Long Island Homegrown.”  (www.celebritychefsandtheirgardens.blogspot.com)

Recently, we were photographing this amazing farmer/chef in his beautiful and well-kept garden where he grows herbs and vegetables for the food served in the restaurant.

I was keen to learn about Chef Keith’s story about how the garden came to be -- he comes from a North Fork family whose farming roots go back generations.

Chef Keith is a former White House sous chef by the way

I was charmed by the garden layout and his choice of herbs and vegetables.   Increasingly I found myself being wooed by what was underfoot. 

I couldn’t help but notice the fascinating gems that were scrunch, scrunch, scrunching with a decided syncopation along with my every step.    It was a musical "hello-Look at me."

The mulch had my attention.  

I scooped a handful of this most curious bounty.

“What is this? “I ask turning the collection of light brown shells in my palm.

Without breaking stride or stopping to see what I was holding, Chef Keith explains it is hazel nuts.  

He goes on to explain they are the sweeter, French hazelnut variety, DuChilly. 

As I scramble to write it down while juggling an umbrella, I ask again, “What is that you say?”

Chef Keith explains the mulch is spent hazelnuts from Holmquist Orchards in Washington State.
http://www.holmquisthazelnuts.com/aboutus.asp

I furiously jot down the name.

Chef explains that at the time he worked at the acclaimed Herbfarm Restaurant in Washington State, he partnered with the Holmquist owners and hazelnut growers extraordinaire to purchase the hazelnuts to use in his creative recipes. 

After moving back to his home in the heart of wine country in Long Island’s North Fork, the siren song of the hazelnut must have wooed Chef too, as he not only continues to use the hazelnuts in his menu offerings, but he asked Holmquist to send him the spent shells they have left over after harvesting and shelling the hazelnuts, before they are gently roasted to use as his garden mulch. 

The family story: this is the 5th generation to grow DuChilly nuts at Holmquist Orchards, the hazelnut growing and processing was all so fascinating. Especially as I just hadn’t ever thought about hazelnuts all that much. 

To learn of this glamorous use of this charming little nut was a delightful discovery.  I felt I had uncovered a treasure tale.

Imagine my surprise when I opened the October issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine – the one with the pretty, lacy pumpkin on the front cover. Included in the issue is a feature article titled, “A Harvest of Hazelnuts” that showcases an outstanding photo essay on the proud heritage of the Foulke family from start-up through success -- and especially the hazelnut harvest. (www.marthastewart.com)

Holmquist Orchards I later learn after research, was featured in a 2008 Martha Stewart story. You can buy the hazelnuts directly from their web site too.

The recent article details how the rains shake the nuts from the trees, harvester vacuums up the nuts and blows about debris leaving clean nuts to bobble into a bin. 

The nuts ride a conveyor belt into the cracker. The bins that hold the nuts drops them one by one into the cracker for shelling. 

This is the mulch: the spent shells!

The nuts go on to the roasting line and then to quality control…

Chef repurposes the DuChilly hazelnut shells from Holmquist Orchards in the Jedediah Hawkins garden with great purpose and success. 

It is too-perfect compost and mulch.

Spread along the garden paths and in the beds it is beautiful to look at! 

It  seemed a bit fragrant, too. 

And they make that lovely crunching come-hither sound when you walk on them.

What a curiously brilliant addition to the garden.

I looked up hazelnuts to learn more and found out they are grown in Mediterranean countries including Turkey (the largest producer) and Italy and here in the United States in Oregon and Washington State. 

The nuts are used in confectionary to make praline. I also learned they are rich in protein and unsaturated fat and are a good source of Vitamin B. 

I’ve always been fascinated with the quick-change, chameleon artist almond, and how it can sweetly romance almost anything from beauty products like cream or oil to food like cakes and candy and beans to candles and oh so many things.

Now, it seems the flirty little hazelnut just might steal the spotlight. 

I learned from Martha’s feature story that hazelnuts can also be used to create not only delicious desserts, but also pizza dough, oil, and pesto.

This is crazy good!

Or just plain nutty J