Winter Root Crops and Kimchi

When you live in a snowy and mountainous climate (such as Vermont) for much of the year, eating fresh, locally grown vegetables doesn't have to be a challenge if you plan ahead and borrow ideas from other cultures who live in a similar environment, such as Korea.

While New Englanders are proud of their ingenuity (some will call it stubbornness) other cultures are equally proud of their heritage and certainly traditional food is part of that equation. Koreans have an obsession with a type of spicy fermented cabbage they call kimchi. Traditionally made with Napa cabbage, kimchi was historically produced in autumn and preserved in clay pots buried for winter consumption.

It might be said the key to food sustainability is storage; the proper storage of root crops is vital if you wish to survive a long cold winter eating fresh vegetables that haven't been trucked hundreds of miles across the country.  In Vermont, a new generation of farmer is using specially designed greenhouses and root cellars to produce and preserve fresh vegetables, even when the ground is covered in snow.  I recently took a trip to Cabot, Vermont to visit just such a place, the Blackwell Roots Farm owned by Lee Blackwell, and his wife Ruth.

The Blackwell Roots Farm, located on 4-acre hillside farmstead originally settled in the 1800s, specializes in certified organic winter storage vegetables and produce sauerkraut and kimchi. They primarily sell wholesale to regional co-ops and organic food stores, but can be found at the Montpelier Winter Farmers Market on the first and third Saturdays of the month, December through April.

Produce for sale at the Montpelier Winter Farmer's Market.

Their largest crops are carrots and various cabbage and beets which are harvested in October through mid-November, as well as squash, potato, parsnip, turnips, onions, leeks, radish, daikon, garlic, ginger, pepper and celeriac, which is celery root.

The farm comprises an insulated multipurpose barn structure built into the side of hill, three greenhouses, plus a chicken coop. The barn includes a hay loft and machinery storage on the top floor plus a small livestock stable which leads out to an upper pasture.

The ground floor of the barn houses the produce tumbler and packaging area, a large refrigerated walk-in storage room for carrots, beets and celeriac, several smaller cooler rooms for potatoes, cabbage, rutabaga and a fermentation room. In a separate room, the sauerkraut and kimchi are produced using a lacto fermentation process.

Spicy tasting and funky smelling, it takes approximately 13 days to produce kimchi; the national dish of Korea. And I promise, with just one spoonful, you'll get hooked on what some have called "the crack" of cabbage.                                      Photo: Francis Moran

Squash and garlic are stored together in separate room kept at a temperature in the mid-50s and at 50% humidity. Carrots, parsnips, beets, celeriac, daikon, rutabaga and cabbage are kept refrigerated very cold and very moist at between 32-38 degrees and 90-98% humidity.

Potatoes are kept cold and very moist at 40 degrees and 90 – 98% humidity in complete darkness, while onions are kept dry but even colder at between 32-38 degrees and not over 75% humidity, and also in darkness. All that refrigeration requires power but the farm currently generates 30% of their electricity from solar panels.

Lee also showed me the winter greens in grows in one of the greenhouses; Mache and Claytoni from France which have more vitamins than spinach. He explained how winter spinach is sweeter than summer spinach because of the higher sugar content in the leaves as a result of the diminished daylight hours.

International Flavors with Chef John Barton

The following images are from a unique event I was fortunate enough to be invited to document. Culinary guru Chef John Barton, an amazing instructor at New England Culinary Institute, brought his class of high school students enrolled in the culinary arts program at Northwest Technical Center in St. Albans to visit NECI's Montpelier campus and interact with his B.A. Mod 6 students as they prepared final projects for their Asian Foods class.

Chef John Barton is an intensely articulate and dearly loved instructor with a fountain of knowledge that he passionately shares with his students.

At first the high school students were a bit shy, but with some mild prompting and introductions they felt more at ease and began to ask the B.A. students questions and a natural interaction followed.

I have to admit, it was a joy to witness the high school students come out of their shells and begin to develop a rapport with the BA students, get involved in the preparation, and experience a meaningful field-trip.

The high school students were able to get a glimpse of various steps in Asian food preparation and also meet some of NECI's international students.

The visiting high school students had a first hand opportunity to experience NECI's mantra "where you learn by living it" in action.

A collage of some of the various dishes prepared as final projects in Chef Barton's Mod 6 Asian Foods class.

 Shrimp Rolls: the Chef's Choice winner by Stefan

A duo of shrimp: the People's Choice winner, by Kimberly

At the end of the day, Chef Barton observed: "In the heat of the moment the students don't often see the quality of their work or the progress they have made. Nine weeks ago they knew next to nothing about Asian cuisine, now they are integrating specific cuisines into their cooking."

"The photos look great," he said. "Thanks for your involvement and expertise it brings these types of student events to a new level and allows the students to reflect on what a great job they did."

You're very welcome Chef, thank you for the opportunity to document the event..

Brunch

Bunch at NECI on Main is a wonderful treat, if not an indulgence. Besides custome-made omlettes, there's a hot-carved meat table, a bountiful selection of pastries, sweets and breads, plus a variety of savory items such as sushi!

Testing out my new pair of 500 watt strobes and softboxes, I managed this image of dishes prepared by Chef Doug's catering class:

 

 Guess what dish items we have here

Food Photography

At a food photography workshop I conducted recently, I explained the importance of understanding light and different techniques to create photographic exposures to make the subject look appealing and delicious.

After a slide show of my explorations in food photography with examples from my recent portfolio, we used a sheet of ice to experiment with creative lighting using colored gels, a simple work lamp and an off-camera flash unit.

Here are some example images of our improvisation.

Pumpkin Rising

Autumn season again, and that means many things; bountiful harvests, fresh apples and pumpkin pie!

Seen at brunch!

This is the Heady-Topper 4-pack!

To the great delight of beer enthusiasts in Central Vermont, the owners of the Alchemist Pub & Brewery in Waterbury have opened a 15 barrel, small production brewery specializing in fresh, unfiltered India Pale Ale.

John and Jennifer Kimmich built a state-of-the-art canning line to package in 16-ounce cans their flagship Double IPA - Heady Topper. Canning allows to package, preserve and protect the beer against the impact of UV light and oxygen.

Eight years after opening the Alchemist, which became a big success, and ushered in a renaissance in the dining & nightlight scene in downtown Waterbury, the region was hit by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene on August 28 which caused tremendous flooding and lots of property damage in the Northeast.


Many homes and businesses along parts of Rt 100 and Rt 2 in Waterbury suffered severe flooding, which left behind a coating of mud and debris. Plans call for the Pub & Brewery to re-open sometime in the next 5 or 6 months, or more - who knows. But, in the meantime, we've got the Heady Topper in a can!

 

Be sure to read the instructions first, ("Drink this beer in a can"), or be adventurous and enjoy from a glass!

Appreciation Dinner

Here are a few behind-the-scenes snapshots from inside a commercial kitchen at a culinary school preparing a classic French five-course dinner for nearly sixty guests; (students, faculty, staff and special guests).

Additional images may or may not be added at any time!

Francis Moran
photographer/writer

(Special thanks to NECI, Justin, Amy, Chef Paul and Chef Tom)

 

"Say cheese!"

One of the incredible things about Vermont is the vibrant and growing number of artisan cheesemakers, (it's official, no matter what the spell-checker says; cheesemaker is one word). There's even a Vermont Cheese Trail listing over 40 cheese producers to track down and explore.  I recently had the opportunity to visit the Bonnieview Farm in Craftsbury and meet with 21-year-old cheesemaker Joe Alstat.

The Bonnieview Farm is owned and operated by Neil and Kristin Urie. The land has been farmed by the Urie family for five generations, since 1890, when it was purchased by Neil’s great-grandfather. The farm now has over 500 acres.

The farm is home to 200 milking ewes which graze on lush green pastures from May to October. It is the delicious rich and creamy milk from these ladies that produce our award winning cheeses. The breeds of its flock, chosen especially for the quality of their milk, include East Fresian, Laucone, Tunis, and Dorset.

 

The rich and creamy milk from these ladies produce award winning cheeses.

Bonnieview Farm currently makes six varieties of cheese with unpasteurized sheep’s milk from it's flock.

"farm-to-plate"  Look for Vermont cheese next time you're out and about, or better yet, create your own cheese tour by purchasing a variety of cow, goat and sheep cheeses and serve up a sampler.

 Cheese plate menu item at NECI on Main

Local Grow-Fest

It's finally here. Today is the 3rd annual Growing Local Fest, and I'm excited - but disappointed too, because I can't stay for the whole thing.  It takes place at the green of Vermont College in Montpelier, Vt. from 2pm -10pm

The mission of the Growing Local Fest is to nurture the local organic food movement by building a  community culture of self-sufficient food production.

The event will include workshops, demonstrations, and music & arts performances. I also noticed signs around town announcing a home-brew competition and a pesto contest. So, it's all about education and inspiration ... with the goal of creating a strong and resilient local food system for a mindful community of producers and consumers.

Today's motto is: Grow Local. Eat Local. Drink Local. Dance Local. Sing Local. Build Local. Buy Local. Create Local.

Which leads to the question; what is "Local"?  Organizers of the Grow-Fest tell us:

"At its simplest, “Local” is a geographic unit (or things associated with said unit). It is also a perspective from which to view the manifestations of the world around us. And, perhaps in its grandest sense, “Local” is an ethic that seeks to respect, and appreciate to the fullest, the attributes that make each place unique."

That's food for thought.

Many farmers in the Rt. 100 corridor of Vermont lost much of their fall crops to flooding caused by Tropical Storm Irene on August 28. The heavy rainfall caused many rivers to rise over the banks at more than 100-year-flood levels, flooding fields and residences in many communities and causing a lot of destruction. The Santa Davida Organic Farm in Waitsfield, Vt. managed to save 25% of some of it's crops, including pumpkins, squash and corn.

 

Aqua Vitae

Last evening I crossed paths with another gazpacho soup, and in the process discovered new points on the international culinary map; this time it was from a Swedish-cuisine inspired tribute menu. The amuse bouche was a lobster gazpacho; the opener of a six-course wine pairing dinner; the second in a new series of monthly wine dinners at New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vermont.

It seems almost every culture has folklore about the age-old dream of finding an elixir that gives immortality from the magical spirit released by the distillation of grains. In Scandinavia, one of the most cherished traditions is making your own water of life, a flavor-infused vodka, called aquavit.

Aquavit is also the name of a highly-regarded restaurant in New York City that has specialized in fine Scandinavian cuisine since 1987 and served as a launch pad for Ethiopian-born and Swedish-trained  Marcus Samuelsson, who was one of the youngest restaurant chefs to achieve acclaim in the Big Apple during the 1990s.

The restaurant received two three-star reviews in The New York Times (1995 and 2001), and chef Marcus Samuelsson won the 1999 James Beard Foundation award for “Rising Star Chef” as well as its 2003 award for “Best Chef in New York City.”

Samuelsson has an interesting story. He was born in Ethiopia, raised in Sweden, educated in London, did his culinary training in Sweden, and is credited with helping to pioneer awareness of Scandinavian cuisine in the U.S. with a refreshing array of cooking techniques and exciting menu combinations that earned him worldwide recognition and placed Scandinavian cooking at the forefront of the international culinary scene.

"Chef Marcus Samuelson is someone who has been an inspiration to me," noted Chef Paul Sorgule, NECI VP of Culinary Affairs, during a moment in between courses while plating the dinner-menu tribute to Samuelsson, "and that's why I chose to honor him."



Chef Paul Sorgule created the dinner menu in tribute to Chef Marcus Samuelsson 

To make traditional aquavit, use any ingredients from fruit to vegetables and herbs, but the primary spice should be either caraway or dill. Let sit for a week or two to ferment and for the flavors of the ingredients to infuse the vodka. Turns out any time of year is a great time to make aquavit and enjoy it with family and friends.

A few images of some of the dinner courses:

The second course; a trio of cured fish, (paired with a 2004 Weingut Robert Weil Riesling)

 

The entree: Roast organic loin of pork, roasted plums, corn mashed potatoes, caramelized cipollini onions, apple brandy reduced pork demi-glace, (paired with a 2005 Trust Winery Australian Shiraz)



followed by a watermelon, cucumber and watercress salad, with watermelon broth and Bijou cheese



Wishing I had managed to get a photo of the dessert: a chocolate chili cake with apricots and candied beet glaze, paired with Eden Ice Cider. Oh well, next time!

I'm looking forward to the next wine-pairing dinner in September and for a reason to make a trip to New York, and check out Samuelsson's new restaurant serving Americana cuisine, Red Rooster in Harlem.

Welcome to the Babble Belt

Of the many artisan cheese-makers in Vermont I recently re-encountered Marisa Mauro of Ploughgate Creamery from up in the Northeast Kingdom.

Montpelier Farmers Market

She sells her cheese on Saturday's at the Montpelier Farmers Market. Her velvety and mild brie-like Hartwell cheese is an award-winning favorite. 
 




At a festival of farmhouse ales, recently, she served me a lightly grilled Foccacia sandwich made with her queso fresco, tomato and basil, and I paired it with a Belgian White Ale. I also sampled Hill Farmstead's Clara on draft; a Grisette brewed with malted wheat, raw oats, hay, black pepper, and fermented with their new house saison yeast.

Not only did I stumble upon a link to an international community of Belgian beer lovers, but I later learned from a new friend what a wonderful treat I had enjoyed. Both beers where delicious and the sandwich was a delightful snack.

While at the Hill Farmstead Brewery in North Greensboro, Vt. I met a guy from Philadelphia who was up to try out some local beers, and from our conversation, he gave me quite some insight into the growing craft-beer market.

And he told me a story about the difficulty he had on Friday trying, to no avail, to get his hands on some bottles of Sean's Lawson's Finest from the Warren Store. He suspects a conspiracy theory by employees to tip-off friends the moment Sean arrives with his shipment. Sometimes he walks in at 9am; others times at 5 pm.. But it sells out each week; only a limited number of bottles are listed on reserve. We'll have to investigate.

Can't wait for the Mad Taco in Waitsfield to re-open next week after we found out it was closed for employee rest and vacation. (during the middle of tourist season; the peak of summer, and The Valley's Festival of the Arts?)  Here's the link to a friend's blog with some words from a fresh perspective: Divine Taco Intervention

It was sad to see Micheal's Good-to-Go go gone; to close up shop. He was one of the first chefs I met who prepared and cooked meals with fresh organic ingredients and was a member of the Vermont Fresh Network.