Yogurt Caesar Toast with Roasted Tomato

COOKING & CREATIVITY

I don’t remember how I learned to cook. There was no concrete event or particular pedagogy. There was no single moment in time where I sat down with the intention of honing any technical knowledge at all. But one thing I can nail down is how I cultivated an appreciation and thereby a passion for cooking. Growing up in a family that loved and gathered around food, taught me that good cooking is an act of love and respect. And through spending time with my Mom in the kitchen, I began to soak in the motions and methods that make up an intuitive chef.

My family kitchen growing up was loud and bright - adorned with pastel yellow cabinetry and large printed yellow and silver leaf flowers on the ceiling (no joke!). What it lacked in space it made up for in personality. And while it couldn’t have been larger than 100 sq feet, it felt larger than life. It was the epicenter of our home, the public square of our little village.

And it was in this kitchen where my Mom showed me how to cook. Our cooking lessons were not really lessons at all, but rather pockets of time (often before Shabbat), where I observed her casually throwing together a formal dinner for five and effortlessly creating something that the whole family savored. I watched her motions and tendencies. She never looked at recipes. Instead she moved through the kitchen gracefully in a dance- her hands in spirit finger pose releasing spices on simmering vegetables, and gliding to tend to boiling pots and roasting pans. Her instinct for cooking was ingrained- like muscle memory, honed after years of prepping large communal dinners around the Shabbat table.  

I memorized and modeled these movements - the way she would pinch the salt and sprinkle it over sautéing onions, the way she rocked her knife as she diced vegetables, and smashed garlic with the back of a spoon. When it was time for me to serve as sous chef, my Mom walked through the steps to cook and taste some of our most coveted recipes, passed down for generations. Our meatball recipe for example is one of the most beloved dishes in our household, and knowing that it was the meatballs that gave me the ability to make everyone in the house feel happy, made me feel like I had a secret weapon- a super power that filled everyone with joy. And these recipes that I learned in my mother’s kitchen did not involve measuring cups, or spoons. Like many traditional recipes, the measure of balance came from the 5 senses - taste, smell, feel, sound and sight. Learning how to cook in this way is the single most important factor that paved the way for me to innovate in my own kitchen.

I recently had the honor of meeting two women that I admire, Samin Nosrat, author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat and Alison Cayne of Haven’s Kitchen and author of The Haven's Kitchen Cooking School: Recipes and Inspiration to Build a Lifetime of Confidence in the Kitchen. Both Samin & Alison believe that if you know how to eat, you can learn to cook. They note that once you understand a few basic rules around cooking, you can make nearly anything, and you can make it delicious too. And once you learn how to strike that transcendent balance between saltiness, acidity, fat and texture you can create dishes unique to you. It’s a simple, yet radical idea. It’s a liberating idea. And this philosophy matches up to my experience and point of view in every facet of my food ventures.

The recipe that I’m sharing is inspired the pineapple DC (check us out if you're a woman in food and like to meet amazing, inspiring women!) event that showcased Samin’s work. The gathering included an inspiring Q&A with Samin, followed by a demo on how to make caesar dressing with no recipe. And while our guests went off to make dressing of their own, the pineapple staff (including me!) hovered over Samin’s dressing, dipping bread into it, savoring the perfect palatable balance of salt, fat and acid. It was delectable. And like Samin encourages in her book, I allowed my taste buds to guide me. This fun impromptu bonding moment inspired me to create a caesar toast, and incorporate the pleasant crispy texture of toasted bread to accent the creaminess and savoriness of the dressing.

INGREDIENTS

* note use your taste buds to adjust these quantities as needed! It's a fun exercise

• 1/2 cup of yogurt
• 4 dashes of worcestershire
• 2 tbs of pounded anchovies
• 1 tbs of pounded and salted garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup of good parmesan
• 1 tbs of milk to thin out the yogurt
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• tomatoes, roasted with olive oil and salt
• toasted bread
• shredded romaine

DIRECTIONS

Arrange dish by spreading caesar yogurt on bread, top with romaine, roasted tomatoes and parmesan. 

Here are my main tips for being innovative in the kitchen: 

• Buy Salt, Fat, Acid, and Heat and Kitchen Confidence - they're both great starting points, and have lots of information on the fundamentals on cooking to set you up to innovate. Learn the basics and create within constraint
• Don’t be ashamed of looking at recipes or cookbooks
  • Recipes and photos are great for flavor inspiration even if you don’t need the finer details and measurements
• Like Samin mentions, the perfect balance of salt (like feta, anchovies, soy sauce), acid (lemon, ferment, lime, vinegar), and fat (avocado, cream, butter, oils) are the forces that make a dish sublime. Use your palate to tweak your dish and add an element if it needs that extra something.
• Use travel to inspire and note your flavor combinations. Carry around a notebook, and ask chefs what they put in their dishes. Go to local markets to see the spices that are used in that region.
• Practice! Invest the time in learning.
• Learn to enjoy the market (super or farmers), and let the ingredients inspire you
• Have your friends and family taste your creations and ask for their feedback
• Cook with friends and family to learn their traditions and recipes

Crispy Bread with Ricotta, Honey, Black Pepper and Mint

The Wandering 08  // Food Future Reflections

There’s no shortage of impressive young people in DC. In fact, I'm surrounded by so many, that I feel that one of the reasons I’ve been able to kickstart my creative pursuits is the pure inspiration and excitement I feel when I exchange ideas with such impactful and ambitious people. Kathleen, Jeff and Kristoff play this role in my life, and they are perfect examples of hard working, visionaries, working tirelessly to create a better world. They're the founding team of Up Top Acres; a rooftop farm enterprise, transforming the DC food culture and making agriculture a fixture of city life. The Wandering 08 sparked conversation around a revolution in DC’s food future. And Aley and I did so by showcasing businesses that are transforming our food community, and the possibilities for the future.

The vibe of this gathering felt like a blend of connection, inspiration, learning and growing. Our guests trickled in, visibly dazzled by the greenspace and energized by the potential of growing food on the concrete landscape overhead. It’s estimated that around 30% of vacant growing space in cities is occupied by rooftops. The possibility of cultivating unused space to grow food can solve a huge problem- the challenge of finding space in cities for agriculture. And so we were able to use the rooftop as a platform to talk about what was possible.

We kicked off the gathering with light bites featuring the early summer harvest - a bounty of radishes, carrots, strawberries, herbs; savory lentil hummus, and toasted sourdough with ricotta, honey, black pepper and mint (recipe below!).

In addition to highlighting Up Top’s efforts, we hosted True Syrups, a DC and women owned small-batch cocktail mixer company, to talk about the next link in the local food system chain- processing local food into consumer products. She spoke about the impact of working with local producers, and the integral role that small businesses play in propagating a local food economy. Her herby cocktail recipe was pretty delicious, too ;)

 Their was a palpable energy from the group as we sat down for dinner, wrapped in the warm sunset glow on the horizon. As the wanderers settled around the table, Whole Foods talked about their local food program, and the impact that supermarkets and larger distributors can have on scaling the vital work of ethical farmers. And this all helped me understand that while our original intention was to create a nourishing summery cookout, what we found along the way was that the real story of our menu reflected the journey of our food community and how far we’ve come in creating a healthier and more sustainable system.

Working with partners like Up Top, True Syrups and Whole Foods made me appreciate that being a part of a system means that we all have a role to play. Up Top produces the food. Whole Foods sells the food. True Syrups processes the food. The Wandering creates accessible experiences to celebrate the food. And only together can we create a better food reality for each stakeholder along the way. There’s so much opportunity, and it’s ours to lose. And despite tricky times for our environmental policies, I’m optimistic that with grassroots efforts and unrelenting passion, we can create the future we seek for our world and community.

the dinner table

INGREDIENTS

• Sourdough, sliced and toasted
• Whole milk ricotta
• Black pepper
• Honey
• Mint, chopped
• Olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Toast your bread. Top with ricotta, followed by olive oil, honey, black pepper and mint.

dessert jars // buckwheat shortbread with soaked berries and coconut cream

me & aley

jeff // co founder of up top acres

dinner plate // sweet potato burger, strawberry mint and macedamia nut salad, pickleback slaw, steak fries

Toast, Goat Cheese, Honey, Black Pepper

TOAST, IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER

A quick but heavenly dish to whip up in a flash. I used truffle honey that I smuggled from Milan, but I recognize that this is a pretty inaccessible ingredient. I recommend using your favorite type of honey to finish the dish. 

COMPONENTS

• Your favorite bread (I used 7 seed raisin and almond)
• Your favorite goat cheese (I used Cherry Glen's Ash)
• Your favorite honey (I used bootleg truffle honey)
• Cracked black pepper

Fried Egg Toast, Tomato Jam, Ash Goat Cheese

SO HOT YOU COULD FRY AN EGG

So I did! But don't worry, there won't be any pavement residue in this recipe. This toast is seriously delicious and can be served for brunch or a classy mid afternoon snack. Inspired by the furnace that is Washington DC. 

Speaking of furnaces... This recipe features Cherry Glen's Monocacy Ash Goat Cheese. It's a soft ripened two layer cheese with a line of edible ash. Insanely yummy and decadent.

TOMATO JAM

• 1 tbs. of butter
• 1 tbs. of olive oil
• 1 heriloom tomato, cubed
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• smoked salt to taste (or regular salt)
• pinch of smoked chipotle powder (or smokey paprika) 
• pinch of aleppo pepper (or chili powder)
• 2 tbs. maple syrup
• 3 tbs. apple cider vinegar 

REMAINING INGREDIENTS

• your favorite goat cheese 
• piece of toast
• 1 egg

DIRECTIONS

Heat butter and olive oil in a sauce pan. When the oil looks runny, add the onion, cook over medium high heat until the onion is translucent. Add the tomato, smoked salt and garlic. Cook for 2 mins. Then, add the maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, smoked pepper powder and aleppo pepper. If you can't find these ingredients, then use paprika and chili powder instead. Bring mixture to a boil, then cover and simmer for 7 mins until the mixture resembles a loose jam. 

Meanwhile, heat olive oil on a pan over med-high heat. Crack an egg directly over top the pan and cook for 7 mins, or until the egg slips around in the pan. I like my eggs runny, but cook you're egg to your liking. Toast a piece of bread. Spread goat cheese on the toast, top with the tomato jam and fried egg on top.