Fall, Fairytale Mushrooms, and the 2012 Food & Nutrition Conference Workshop

Wild Mushrooms and Pasta with Gremolata - scroll to bottom for recipe

 

Participants having their chance at the beauties on set...

This is the set photograph. My set-up AND shots done in minus-5 minutes! I need a rematch...

 Roasted Delicata Squash salad - scroll to bottom for recipe

 

Garlic Chive Cream Cheese-Crème Fraîche Spread with Grissini - scroll to bottom for recipe

Highlighting specific tools, their benefits, and ways to make "the familiar"  in food fresh or new

Photo: courtesy Liz Weiss

Photo: courtesy Rebecca Bitzer

Last week, I taught a four-hour workshop to over 80 registered nutritionists and dietitians as a new addition to their annual conference. With time - though not enough! - for everyone to get hands-on experience at three different sets, a slide presentation (about all kinds of goodies), and discussion on cooking and styling tips, tools, and sourcing  ingredients, it was nonstop. I had a wonderful time. Between sharing my wisdom hard-earned over the years, to running around during a ten-minute break to set up food at each of the three sets and pop a few shots to compare later (aaaahhhhh!! plus thirty or so pairs of eyes watching my every move as I worked my "magic"), I was at my most adaptable best. The eagerness and clarity of attention given to me by this group was so heartening. Thank you everyone, for helping make the day such a success. And, a special thanks to Janet, Liz, and Regan for helping create this essential piece in the conference puzzle.

To prepare, I had a blast getting up early to source the above mushrooms from great wild food gatherers Les Hook and Nova Kim, at the lovely New Amsterdam Market. I also felt a certain satisfaction at throwing together the quintessentially autumn salad of delicata squash, celery, toasted hazelnuts, and pomegranate seeds (which nicely held up - for an hour! - as people photographed it). As a surprise at the end of the day, I gave away all of the props laid out on the tables, passing along a piece of my studio to all who came. Fun!

Here are the recipes:

Wild Mushrooms and Pasta with Gremolata 
Adapted from the New York Times recipe, printed last week

A few handfuls of wild mushrooms of any kind that please you - I used Lobster, Matsutake, Red-capped Scabers, and some Slippery Jacks
Zest from 2 lemons
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
good extra virgin olive oil
a knob of butter
pasta whose shapes will catch the bits of gremolata mixture - think creases and folds, curls, etc. - I used nodi marini, which translates to "mariner's knot", and which you can find here

Combine the garlic, lemon zest, and parsely. Cover and set aside. Heat a couple glugs of olive oil and the butter in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Brush clean any debris from the mushrooms and slice thinly, and toss them in. Let the mushrooms sweat, and then stir to brown, about 5-7 minutes. Add more olive oil or butter as necessary, along with s & p to taste. Meanwhile, boil pasta in salted water timed according to package instructions, al dente. Drain, toss into a bowl with gremolata, adding additional olive oil to lubricate the mixture, and stir in mushrooms. Season with s & p to taste. You may add grated pecorino or parmesan, but with mushrooms this good, their rich flavors are so savory that the cheese would lay them to waste. Add a nice black-fruit round red wine, and you are set.

Roasted Delicata Squash Salad
This recipe is less about specific quantities, and more about what you are in the mood for, proportion-wise...

Delicata squash, rinsed, halved and sliced into 1/4-inch thick pieces
1 pomegranate, seeds removed
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted
celery ribs, sliced thinly on a mandoline
good extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
s & p to taste

Lay the squash half-rings onto a baking sheet. Paint with olive oil and season with s & p. Roast at 325 degrees for a half hour, or until nicely caramelized on one side. Let cool on a wire rack. Toss together the delicata, celery, and pomegranate seeds in a mixing bowl, and transfer to a serving platter. Scatter hazelnuts and drizzle with oil and vinegar. Season with freshly cracked pepper and sea salt, and enjoy.

Garlic Chive-Cream Cheese-Crème Fraîche Spread
...kind of like the best boursin around...

2 8-oz packages cream cheese (buy grass-fed if you can)
2 heaping tbsp crème fraîche (same, here)
2 good tbsp finely chopped garlic chives
s & p to taste

Fold all ingredients together until well combined. Great with grissini, olive bread, tortilla chips, as a veg dip, and with many other foods. Easy-peasy!

I am having so many great experiences. Now that the workshop is behind me, there are many other projects on which to apply the finishing touches, or dive in and create. I will have a story in an internationally produced magazine which you can look forward to in 2013, along with just-completing new branding materials for a lifestyle guru, as well as numerous NYC locations I've scouted and photographed for a website soon-to-launch. There are more great projects coming to fruition....I feel quite grateful at the chance to get creative with all of the wonderful people in each different realm. Wooo-hooo!!!

Food Photography and Styling Workshop

Next Saturday, October 6th, join me in Philadelphia for all the how-tos on food styling and photography, at the 2012 conference of the Academy of Nutritionists and Dietitians. I can tell you it is going to be fantastic; I've been preparing this program for a while. In this last week, I will be putting the icing on the proverbial cake.... ;-)

Looking forward to meeting everyone there!

Scenes from Summer

It was not that long ago that many adventures were had - away, on new turf - exploring bits of beauty in Nature. New York City living offers many gifts, but the "Nature" score is always a bit low. So on trips this summer, I took in boulders, ponds, forests, farms, and the quieting beauty that nature so easily provides.

Blueberry Island - White Mountain National Forest, NH

  

An incredibly large and equally still pond. Frolic and a rowboat trip with friends who showed us the way, to a tiny island inhabited by countless wild blueberry bushes. We brought back almost as much as we stuffed into our mouths. Sweet, tart, out-of-this world flavor. If I had access to a kitchen during this part of the trip, there would have been crostadas for everyone. Alas - fresh, unadulterated, and amazing would have to do...

Diana's Baths, NH

Six-tenths of a mile's walk into the forest. The sight of moss covered rocks, fir trees, and pine needle strewn-soft earth everywhere. A clearing, and then, the soft roar of water. Smooth granite sculpted by all this rushing water, huge stones-turned-incredible-sculptures made for great jungle-gym adventures. Lots of children agreed this was the best way to spend an afternoon. People played on multiple levels throughout the falls, enjoying the refreshing cool of the water, and the smooth stone underfoot.

 World Fellowship Center Gardens - NH

It was a damp, on-again off-again rainy day. It was also my birthday, and I wanted to see where the bohemian retreat space that hosted us sourced its bounty of fresh greens and vegetables. Farmer Andy happily had us along to harvest, and trudging on moist earth, we visited three garden spaces. Modest, beautiful, happy gardens. In the mix of flowers, beans, salad greens, squash, and potatoes, we chased young chickens who, though outnumbered, were incredibly fast and resourceful, and ran off into the brush. They too wanted another day in the wet wilderness.

Look soon for part two in this adventure. 

There are so many photographs to share. It makes sense to simply finish up now and parcel these out, whetting your appetites for what is to come next...  ;)