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.

Summer-time in New England is special for many reasons, and in Vermont a special way to enjoy the warm weather and the bounty of the season is with a refreshing bowl of cold Gazpacho soup made with ingredients plucked straight from the garden.  Interestingly, this style of tomato-based soup, which originated in the southern region of Spain called Andalusia, is made with raw vegetables!  How easy is that?  I started by picking perfectly ripe cherry tomatoes from my backyard garden, and, with help from my esteemed culinary associates to prepare this dish, seen pictured below, it was completed.  I choose to enjoy it with some bread and a plate of three different Vermont-made cheeses. More on that to follow.