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| HOME | CLASSES | ABOUT US | ECO FOCUS | COMMUNITY | GIFT CERTIFICATES | ||
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| Cooking with the Seasons Teaching Cooking from Earth to Table | ||
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Cooking with the Seasons We work hard to cook with locally-grown, seasonally-available produce in order to promote local economy and local growers. In summer, that's easy enough—what's not available? But as the leaves begin to turn and the back-yard bounty starts to thin, eating locally isn't as easy. This new section of the web site will help you stay in touch with what's fresh and available from local growers even in the colder months. We'll give you recipes, tips, and ideas on how to enjoy what's available locally instead of buying produce picked unripe half a world away. Watch for more information soon. December: Roasted Pork with Dried Autumn Fruit As the first snows find us, our fall bounty has changed. The chanterelles have left us, along with many of their mushroom kin. Pomegranates and sturdy greens, dried fruits and nuts, and roots of all sorts fill the market stalls. We still have apples and pears, but the best are almost gone. Pumpkins are also mostly finished, but the rest of the hardier squashes will remain throughout the winter. This is the last month of a robust palate from which to cook. We need to be turning our eyes (and stomachs) toward the winter crops. In order to eat locally and seasonally, we as eaters and cooks need to make sacrifices. Tomatoes are done. Berries are done. Asparagus won't start until late spring. Yes, we can get all of these items year-round at the grocery store, but at what price? Not only do we pay top dollar, but we also dull our palates to what truly ripe food can be, because the summer foods we find in our stores in December have little flavor and no soul. Eating out of season weakens our sense of place and our connection to the land. Above all, eating out of season isn't worth losing the eyes-closed ecstacy of tasting the juicy, ripe strawberry for which you've waited seven months. The recipe that follows springs conceptually out of last month's Cooking with the Seasons feature. We'd accompany this dish with Purée Blanc (potatoes, parsnips, turnips, and fennel all mashed together), Sautéed Kale with Roasted Garlic Sauce, and Bread Pudding for dessert. Enjoy. Roast Pork Loin with Dried Autumn Fruits and Jus Lié 1 3# pork loin ½ C chopped prunes ½ C chopped dried apricots ½ C chopped dried apples ¼ C chopped walnuts ½ C chopped onion 4 T brandy 1 quart pork or chicken stock 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp chopped winter savory 1 T stone-ground mustard 1 T cornstarch 4 T butter kosher salt and pepper, to taste Melt 2 T butter in a large sauté pan. Sauté the onion on high heat until translucent. Add the garlic and sauté until aroma (until you can smell the garlic strongly). Remove pan from heat and add 1 T of brandy. (Be sure to have the pan away from the flame and do not pour the brandy straight from the bottle!) Ignite. When flames die down, add the fruit, walnuts, and savory, and return to heat. Sauté for 10 minutes or until fruit is hot and soft. Season well. Allow mix to cool. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Wash and dry a long round steel (knife sharpener). Push the steel through the pork loin the long way and wiggle it back and forth to create a hollow tube inside the loin. Stuff pork loin with fruit mixture using the handle of a wooden spoon. Season the outside of the roast and brown all over in hot sauté pan using the remaining butter. Transfer to a roasting pan. Roast pork in hot oven for one hour or until done (155 degrees F), basting occasionally with accumulated juices. Meanwhile, degrease and then deglaze the pan in which the pork was seared with the remaining brandy. Add stock and reduce by one third. Set aside. When pork is done, remove from roasting pan to a warm place. Cover with foil and allow to rest for ten minutes. Pour off any grease from roasting pan and deglaze with the sauce previously made. Whisk in mustard, salt, and pepper. Adjust consistency with a cornstarch slurry (cornstarch mixed with a little water, stirred to remove lumps). Taste and season until perfect. Carve pork and serve with sauce. October: Chanterelles and Wild Salmon This is a fun transitional period, as we are still getting some of summer's produce and are already seeing fall's beginning to ripen. Right now, we're still cooking with fresh tomatoes and beginning to utilize some of fall's bounty as well, like squash and apples. Wild mushrooms are getting into full swing, and we're simultaneously getting to the bottom of the barrel for wild salmon runs. We've combined these two flavors for a quintessentially October recipe. Smoked-Salmon-Stuffed Ravioli Nero (c) 2002 Culinary Communion, LLC. All rights reserved. 1# Squid Ink Pasta rolled into sheets ½ # hot-smoked salmon 1 egg ½ C heavy cream ½ C grated parmesan kosher salt and pepper to taste Cut pasta sheets into 2" squares with a fluted pastry wheel. Finely chop the salmon and put into a bowl. Add the egg and cream and stir to combine. Mix well. Add the cheese to bind. Season. Put a teaspoon of the filling into the center of a pasta square. Moisten the edges with water and lay another square on top. Press well to seal and expel all air. Freeze at this point or boil in heavily salted water until al dente. Serve with Chanterelle-Madeira sauce. Chanterelle Madeira Sauce (c) 2002 Culinary Communion, LLC. All rights reserved. 1# Chanterelles, cleaned and sliced 1 lg shallot, minced 1 stick butter ½ C Madeira 1 T parsley, minced ½ C Cream kosher salt and pepper to taste Sweat shallot in butter. Add chanterelles and sauté until they release all of their water and go dry. Add the Madeira and reduce by half. Add cream and reduce by half. Season well and garnish with parsley. |
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Copyright ©2001-2003 Culinary Communion. All rights reserved.