THE ART OF GIVING

“Give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.”



What does it mean to give?  This is a question on all of our minds in some way or another this time of year. 

I was just with my father and family on his side to celebrate his 70th birthday. It was wonderful to be with his siblings, 4 of whom are now officially in their 70‘s, as well as our cousins and their kids.  Everyone contributed something to the meal, especially my brother Guy (who also has generously gifted much of his time and gifts, over the years, to my work via his photographs) and my sister-in-law Kate. This love of sharing stories and laughter around a meal is the gift I have received and continue to receive from my family.  It seems to be my calling to to pass this on to others.



Birthdays and holidays are always a time when we think about giving.  But I have always sensed (and to a large degree practiced) that Gifts and Giving are really two separate things. The first consideration is the fact that a gift is a noun and giving is a verb.  Gifts always come wrapped in paper and bows of some sort. They range from lovely confections of elaborate and extreme means to the thing haphazardly purchased and wrapped because we felt obligated to give a gift. Yet the act of giving comes in many different guises.  For me the distinction is that when you give, there is always something from the heart of yourself extending toward the heart and well being of the person who is receiving.  In the best circumstances, it’s a co-creative process, because you are actually being inspired by the other person to share something with them.  The GIFT then almost finds its way to you. 



After the party Kirk and I went to the Long Valley abode and set up cozy camp.  We made dinner together, the highlight being a few choice pieces of fresh venison. This meat was something we were GIVEN from a friend who hunts.  Venison is not something I would normally buy, for many reasons, but being given some fresh meat was a nourishing gift.  We savored the venison with a celery root pure, fresh cranberry compote and mustard greens.



In the morning after all good intentions to sleep as late as possible I finally succumbed to being awake and went downstairs to greet the day.  I curled on the couch with a mug of tea and Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  I was very moved by his PASS IT ON initiative.  In the book Jamie asks each person to learn a recipe from each section of the book and then teach it to someone else with the intention that they will in turn "pass it on".  I love this idea and the truth of it and also believe that it is a NECESSITY.  So much of the time in the act of giving what we are really doing is consuming, but think about the possibilities and doors and windows and landscapes you could open up if you were to share a skill you had, teach another person a useful and sustain able skill.  Where does the effect and depth of that gift end? 


This practice of " pass it on" also brings me back to my yogic roots. In the yogic tradition the student is ultimately receiving lessons from the guru.  The Guru, literally the remover of darkness, is the teacher or the guide who lifts the veils Maya, or illusion,  to illuminate highest potential that exits within each and every one of us. It is vital that each of us begin to recognize that this inner teacher is here to guide us on this journey and hopefully begin to use this awareness to guide us in the choices we make about our every day life. Then we begin to understand the powerful influence the choices we make every day have toward creating effective and lasting change in our world.  It is imperative that we not only begin to understand this, but to take action.  

If we apply this to the practice of giving or gifting we can extend ourselves in many ways.

So, this Gifting Season,  I invite you to take a few moments to think well on what experiences, people or teachings have moved you personally and find a way to share or gift that to some one near and dear or with someone you are just beginning to know.

WINTER SLAW

1 head red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
Celtic Sea Salt
1 cup mung bean sprouts

5 scallions, thinly sliced
1 chili pepper, seeded and finely diced
2-4T ginger, finely diced   
¼ cup hemp seeds
2 tbsp black sesame seeds

Sesame-Miso Dressing

1/4 cup sesame oil
2T shoyu

2T white miso
filtered water as needed

½ cup cilantro, chopped

Place the cabbage in a large bowl and salt with course Celtic sea salt.  Massage the salt in to cabbage and let stand for about 15 minutes to help soften the cabbage.  When softened to your liking, rinse well and drain. 

While the cabbage is standing blend the dressing ingredients.
 

Combine the cabbage with the mung beans, scallions, hemp, black sesame seeds, chili pepper, and ginger. Pour the dressing over the slaw and toss the cilantro leaves in.
 

SQUASH

Roasted Squash Soup with Coriander-Spiced Yogurt

1 butternut squash, (about 2 lbs)

2 cloves of garlic

a small handful of thyme sprigs

2-4T extra virgin olive oil

2 leeks

1 medium bulb of fennel

1.5 qts light vegetable stock or filtered water

Celtic sea salt

Freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Place a few sprigs of thyme and 1 garlic clove in the hollow of each squash.  Place cut side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet and roast until tender. 

While the squash cools, slice the leeks and thoroughly rinse to remove any grit.  Cut the fennel bulb in half, core and thinly slice.  Heat a small amount of oil in a 3 quart pot, add the leeks, cooking until translucent, then add the fennel and cook for another 5-7 minutes.  Scoop out the flesh of the squash and add the saucepan.  Add about 1.5 quarts of water or light vegetable stock and simmer lightly for 10-15 minutes, allowing the flavors to mingle. Meanwhile prepare the coriander-spiced yogurt.

When the soup has cooled, lightly puree in a blender.  Gently reheat adjust the seasoning to taste and serve with a dollop of the coriander-spiced yogurt and grate some fresh nutmeg on top.

Coriander-Spiced yogurt

1/2 cup whole milk yogurt

1-2 teaspoons ground coriander

Celtic sea salt to taste

Fresh nutmeg

Whisk the yogurt until smooth.  Stir in about a half of a teaspoon of coriander and a pinch of sea salt to taste.

CARAWAY

According to The Spice Bible, by Jane Lawson, caraway is "thought to be the oldest cultivated spice plant from Europe".  I find the sharpness of this aromatic, warming spice to be a wonderful foil for the sweeter qualities of cool weather vegetables like winter squash, turnips, beets and carrots.  Caraway seeds were valued by ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures for both their culinary and medicinal uses. Caraway is in a family of spices, along with fennel and ajwan,  known as a useful remedy for digestive trouble and indigestion. It is, in fact, often combined with foods that are known to be difficult to digest, such as cabbage, and fatty meats, like pork and duck. I have also recently read that, in Elizabethan times, apples were baked with caraway as a stomach soothing dessert

CARAWAY DIGESTIVE
Bruise a teaspoon of caraway seed in a mortar and pestle.  Pour two cups of boiling water over the seeds and let stand for 15-20 minutes.  Sweeten with a little raw honey if desired and take about a half cup 3-4 four times during the day to settle your digestion.


I've taken to tossing it with sweet carrots and shallots for a satisfying autumn side dish

Roasted Carrots with Shallot and Caraway

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
Gather about 12 4" long carrots, I like a variety of colors, ranging from crimson to yellow and deep purple.  Cut them in half lengthwise, not too thin, but cut in half again if they are very thick.

Peel and thinly slice 3-4 shallots
Toss the carrots and the shallots with some fruity olive oil and season with 1/2 t salt and 1 t of caraway seeds.  Add a bit of freshly ground pepper if you like, but I often do that after they are roasted.

Roast for about 20 minutes or until you are able to pierce with a fork.

Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice.  This is also delicious with a crumble of goat milk feta

AUTUMN EATS

Squash.  Persimmon.  Figs. Concord grapes.  Kale. Walnuts. Cauliflower. Fennel.  Keith's Rocambole Garlic. Turnips. Pears.

The list goes on.  Most of these foods I source from the Union Square Farmers Market, some are not native to the East Coast, but so evocative of this time of year, that I know adding things like figs and persimmon to some meals is as good for the soul as choosing my greens from the market is for the local farmers. And anyway, Keith, of the eponymous, Keith's Farm, did grow some miniature persimmon last autumn.   The yield was so low he actually limited you to two or three on any given trip.  But the fruit was so distinctive of musk and that fifth flavor, umami-fleshy and ripe, you were happy to get the few mouthfuls available.

This Autumn I've been enjoying the fruit in a very different way at Il Buco, a place that has become a second home over the last 15 years.

Here is my riff on their Persimmon Salad

For Two
Choose one slightly under ripe Fuyu or Hiro persimmon, slice into 1/8" rounds.  Drizzle with cold pressed olive oil and sprinkle with a bit of Himalayan salt.  Next core and cut a bulb of fennel into 1/4-1/2" wedges. clean some mint and reserve some fennel fronds. Toast a small hand of hazelnuts or walnuts.  Finally toss the persimmon, fennel, walnuts or hazelnuts with a bit more olive oil and a dash of champagne vinegar.  Top with a few shavings of Parmesan cheese and  mint and fennel fronds.

AUTUMN WEEKEND

We were able to grab a rare weekend by ourselves in the Hamptons this past weekend.  The weather was glorious and we spent the days doing things that we wouldn't normally do in the summer months, when the crowds are fierce.  On Saturday we went to the North Fork to check out some Long Island wineries.  We drove into Sag Harbor and took the ferry to Shelter Island then hopped the North Ferry to Greenport. After orienting ourselves at the Southhold visitors center we promptly found The Northfork Table & Inn.  This lovely spot is owned and run by Claudia Flemming and Gerry Hayden.  While I worked at Gramercy Tavern, Claudia was the award-winning pastry chef there.  We were able to catch up with Claudia outside their newly launched Lunch Truck, her version of a roadside stand, tucked behind a lovely mural of the kind of old fashioned pickup truck she was looking for but could not find. Kirk  took a fabulous lobster roll for the road. There is no better treat when it is done right in the Hamptons, and this one was. He was in heaven. Claudia suggested we visit McCall Vineyards in Cutchogue. Although they have been growing and harvesting Pinot Noir and Merlot grapes for close to 15 years there, they just bottled their first eponymous wines in 2007.  Compared to some of the more established vineyards, they have just started tastings in their converted barn. The simplicity of the space was perfect. The wine was beautiful too. We tasted their 2007 Pinot Noir, Pinot Noir Reserve and Merlot. We enjoyed a bottle of the 2007 Merlot that evening with Lava Lake lamb rib chops, grilled eggplant and spicy mustard greens. 

Sunday we drove out to the surfer's beach at Ditch Plains and soaked in the warmth and wind, the beauty of the changing light, waves and surfers.  Later we drove to Gosman's Dock had some steamers and went to the fish market there to pick up some local day boat scallops.  The scallops were destined to be grilled for dinner.  I served them with a beet and red cabbage salad loosely adapted from a recipe by Fergus Henderson. We finished the meal with a simple salad of green figs, fennel and parsley and a bit of Le Chevrot. McCall's 2007 Pinot Noir was a lovely accompaniment to this meal.

Beet & Red Cabbage Salad with Crème Fraîche
adapted from “Beyond Nose to Tail Cooking” by Fergus Henderson.
Serves 4-6

For The Salad
2 beets, peeled and shredded in food processor, or grated by hand
¼ small red cabbage with its core cut out, very finely sliced

1 small red onion, peeled, cut in half and thinly sliced

fresh thyme leaves
2T capers in salt

For The Dressing
Extra-virgin olive oil
A modest splash of sherry vinegar

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

For Plating
a few spoonfuls of crème fraîche

a handful of parsley leaves

Combine all the elements of the salad adding a generous sprinkling of thyme leaves.  Add a few splashes of olive oil and a modest splash of sherry vinegar.  Toss well and allow the flavors to mingle for a bit.  Taste and season with a few generous grinds of fresh pepper and a bit of sea salt, if needed.  I find that the salt from the capers adds enough on its own.

To Plate: place a pile of the salad on the plate with a healthy spoonful of crème fraîche and a sprinkling of parsley leaves.

HEIRLOOM INSPIRATION

One of the magical and vital movements occurring in our local farming has been the slow, sure and steady revival of reclaiming the planting of heirloom varieties of plants, grains and legumes.  What is magical about this practice is how it transforms and educates our palates and senses.  Tasting an heirloom tomato is an entirely different experience from eating a vine-ripened tomato from Holland.  It is also a visually expansive experience.  Take these beautiful flame colored eggplant I came across again (I worked with them last fall as well) at Stokes Farm stand in the Union Square Farmer's on Saturday.  Last year they referred to them as heirloom variety, this year they are calling them Moroccan eggplant.  Either way, visually you are feeding your senses and the taste is markedly different for more familiar varieties; a little more spicy and earthy.  I really wanted to work with them in a way that would preserve their natural beauty.  Here is the first variation.

Heirloom Eggplant with Walnuts, Thyme and Sumac

6-8 small heirloom eggplant, halved
2T walnuts, chopped
1T sesame seeds
2T currants, roughly chopped
1 hearty clove of garlic, minced
2T shallot, minced
a generous handful of parsley leaves, roughly chopped
1T salted caper berries, roughly chopped
1T fresh thyme leaves
1/2t sumac, optional
lemon, fresh pepper and olive oil to season

Preheat the oven to 350 degress

Scoop out the seeds and a bit of the flesh from the eggplant.  With small eggplant you should be mindful of not breaking the skin. In a medium bowl combine the "meat"and seeds of the eggplant with the remaining ingredients.  Season and moisten with a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and a touch of freshly ground black pepper.  Mound a spoonful of the filling into the cavity of each eggplant.  Place in a shallow baking dish, drizzle with a little more olive oil and bake for 20 minutes.  Serve with sauteed greens and a little crumbled goat's milk feta.

THIS IS NOURISHMENT

The angle of the sun changed suddenly.  It's cool and rainy after a summer of oppressive heat. Autumn is in the air and we are getting a taste of my favorite season.  My meal tonight is a single bowl containing the following:  mustard greens and black kale sauteed with garlic and cumin seed,  a garnet yam, steaming as I cut into it, its creamy texture is comforting.  After adding some raw, julienned beets, Seth's amazing sunflower sprouts, a sprinkling of spicy sunflower and pumpkin seeds, I drizzle some good olive oil and add a few pinches of Celtic sea salt.  At the last minute I put a forkful of Hawthorne Valley's lacto-fermented red cabbage into the bowl.  I sit alone, listening to some music and I am deeply satisfied.  

I am often asked about what I eat on a daily basis and also what I consider to be optimal nutrition, but I would rather ask:  What does it mean to be truly nourished? Yes, we are nourished or not nourished by the foods we eat, but nourishment is not confined to the foods we eat. The foods we eat, any physical or spiritual practice we engage in, the people we surround ourselves with and the overall climate of our environment all play a part in nourishment.  It does not matter if we are consuming the most pristine, organic food if we are rigid in our body, static in our mind and troubled in our heart when we eat.  So everything leading up to that moment, the very quality of your life affects your ability to receive nourishment. As we become more conscious about the foods we choose to eat and more sensitive to the effects those foods have on our body, we then begin to become more sensitive and refined in the choices we make about other things in our life. Our lives unfold from these choices.  So, curiosity, flexibility and responsiveness in the mind and the body are vital to true nourishment.

More important than labeling an approach to food, is the practice of being open and developing an intuitive sense of how your needs may change over the course of a week, a month and a lifetime. It is vital that we seek the resources to educate ourselves and continually cultivate the knowledge that we have the potential to be nourished by the choices we make and the life that ultimately unfolds from these choices. This is what I consider to be optimal nutrition.



LACIENTO KALE with CUMIN SEED & GARLIC
1 lg bunch Laciento Kale
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
Himalayan salt, to taste
1 lemon
Oil cured black olives

Slice the kale in ribbons about 1/2" wide and chop the stems into 1"pieces if they are not too woody.   Rinse the kale in plenty of water. Drain well.

Heat a large sauté pan and add olive oil and cumin seeds. when the seeds become fragrant and "pop" add the garlic.  After about two minutes, when the aroma of the garlic merges with the fragrant cumin add the kale and saute for about 5 minuts until the greens are softened. sprinkle a few pinches of salt on the greens and a squeeze of fresh lemon; toss to combine and serve with olives and hummus.